Inner Fire
by Demod20
Summary: John Shepard ; Hero, Soldier, Peacekeeper, Friend, Savior! The galaxy will know of his exploits as legend from where his first mission started it all!  Halted Progress Indefinitely
1. Prolouge The Skyllium Blitz

Inner Fire

An ME Fan-fiction

I do not own Mass Effect, its characters, plot, or certainly Commander Shepard (YOU ROCK!).

Prologue - Skyllian Blitz

"Move it, people! Get behind those barricades! Take cover, snipers! Heavies; make sure their armor doesn't get through! Move, move, move!" The voice shouted over the screams of the dying and wounded. The ear-splitting gunfire. The teeth rattling explosions. Even the terror behind the voice, N7 commando John Shepard, hiding in his heart. John wasn't ordering his fellow N7 commandos to cover. Not even regular army troops. But a dozen colonial marines and every able bodied man, young and old who could use weapons , were spread out tactically under and behind barricades for cover. His squadron was wiped out in carefully meticulous planning of batarian raiders, who were planning on their intervention. Whatever distress the colony have themselves in, turned into a full scale battle.

Shepard's unit was sent in to reinforce the colony of Elysium, when their drop ship was crippled on the way to the surface by pirated missile launchers. Out of the two dozen N7 commandos, fourteen were alive, two of which were incapacitated. The N7 unit then found themselves in the wake of full on skirmishes with the batarian raiders. Usually the batarians were armed with less than average weapons, armor, and tech. But the raiders seemed more prepared; they even knew that N7 commandos were sent to relieve pirate efforts to the colony. They obviously had gathered high-quality, and high-priced knowing the criminal underworld, information to know exactly how bring their drop-ship down and take on the commandos with equal footing. Their weapons were improved but lacked the armor and shields that N7 armor is equipped with. N7 armor had kinetic barriers stationed on the outside of his armor, its actual exterior was a flexible carbon alloy that protected most of his vital spots and appendages. Then there is another kinetic barrier that protects a body mesh suit for maximum mobility and protection. All-in-all, the N7 combat 'Hard Suits' were top-of-the-line for soldiers. This however Shepard realized, didn't make them invincible. He watched the shields of his comrades overload in bright flashes of light as the troops found themselves being hailed by the mass accelerator rounds of the batarian raiders. He watched as each of their bodies began to be torn apart instantaneously into bloody chunks, fried alive by incinerators, or blown to pieces by explosions. Shepard made sure to give them hell for every comrade he lost.

Now Shepard was the only survivor among his cohorts, and was instinctively setting up the remaining colonial marines as his vanguard, as the rest of Shepard's volunteers managed their ammo supply, positioned at the front lines, and guarded the exit of the town square. The exit lead into the heart of Elysium's bomb shelter, where the colony's main populace overcrowded the reinforced space, desperately to avoid harm from the battle.

"Commander Shepard," one of Elysium's marines, which everyone under him now addressing him as 'commander', walked up in battered guardian armor holding his assault rifle firmly as he addressed the N7 commando.

"Report, sergeant," Shepard gave him a hurried salute, in which was received by the marine before continuing.

"Sir! The batarians are regrouping with several armored rovers, and there was sightings of two gunships giving them air support." Shepard stroked his fair clean shaven face thoughtfully. Shepard then began to draw out a battle plan of where the troops would be positioned in order to counter the attack. The sergeant gave him a rundown on the abilities of the colonist volunteers they had under their command. They were lucky to find so many ex-military men and a few dozen young men who knew how to fire weapons. Still, Shepard knew they were outnumbered. Shepard concentrated his troops in critical areas, to prevent any overwhelming pressure by the enemy.

Shepard, positioned one trooper to assist every heavy(soldier jargon for anti-armor troop) on the walls giving a total of six heavies, four volunteers and two marines. The front barricades were reinforced with iridium laced hastily crafted 'shields' to cover the troops. The

The front barricades themselves were covered on three possible entrances to the town square they were in: the main streets which lead straight into the second wall where the heavies and support troops could decimate them; the second possibility was to enter the buildings for cover to make their way to a less defended but equally fortified gates; there was also, to Shepard's concern, the issue with the gunships. If Shepard isn't careful, they could end up being either torn to shreds by aerial fire while focusing on defending the gates and walls. The gunships also could with skilled piloting, unknown to the batarians, land troops in the middle of the square, tearing up their battlements and strategic placements.

Shepard took stock of his personal weapon supply: twelve assault rifle, six shotgun, twelve sniper, and seven pistol thermal clips, as well as a few high explosive grenades. He also took some minor satisfaction for 'borrowing' a missile launcher from one of the batarian raiders in one of his earlier skirmishes. The warheads had smart-guiding systems, illegal technology for civvies, targeting the nearest heat signature, even if aimed it fifty yards to the left of it. It will find its target. Shepard counted four warheads for the launcher. 'Well, if I fight like there is no tomorrow, which could be true, I might be able to pull this off,' John Shepard thought, hoping the reinforcements would get through the blockade soon.

"Commander! Three rovers coming with ground support towards the main gate! I count six raiders flanking the sides of each rover," radioed a marine from his sniper's perch in the observatory tower of the town center. Shepard instinctively motioned the sergeant to ready the troops for battle. All signs of lethargy vanished as the sergeant yelled loud and clear into the square.

"ETA, Eagle Eyes?" Shepard asked his designated lookout.

"At the speed they're going? Three and a half minutes tops," said the sniper confidently.

"Understood. Continue on surveillance only. I want to know when those gunships arrive," Shepard spoke with authority he learned as lieutenant of his squadron of the N7 commandos.

"Copy that. Eagle Eye out."

With everyone hunkered down behind their selective positions Shepard got on a block of debris to stand tall enough for the troops to see him.

"All right men, this is it! We make our stand here, win or lose, we'll fight to the end, for that is what humanity does! We may come out scarred, but no soldier is truly unscathed from the horrors of war. Regardless what happens to us, we cannot, we WILL not let them take this colony! The people under our very feet are part of the future for humanity! This colony IS humanity! Remember what we fight for! We fight for the fallen, we fight for each other, and we most certainly fight for OURSELVES!" As Shepard finished his speech, everyone yelled a war cry, finally at their peak morale capacity. And just on time to hear the lookout yell to the cheering soldiers, "Here they come!" Everyone just then fell into a zealous attitude toward their foes, still chanting and yelling war cries at them, giving the impression of a legion of troops rather than a battalion's worth.

The heavies began to open fire as the rovers came in range, discharging their grenade launchers at the enemy vehicles. The armored transports began to buffer and shake from the impact of the detonations of super heated grenades. Some of the batarian raiders were too close to the explosions and were blown away from the blasts, kinetic shields flaring in vibrant blue, as the devices barely protecting them. The raiders and rovers began to counter attack, discharging their mass accelerator weapons at their targets. The rovers' blasts were more concussive then the missile launchers that were being fired, causing the defenders to give pause, feeling their teeth vibrate violently from the explosions. The heavies support began to draw away their fire by attacking the escorts next to the armored transports. The support tried to find cover but were limited to the wide street that the vehicles have taken up too much space for movement. Half of the escorts were cut down easily, while the rest hid behind their armored vehicles. One of the rovers though was bucking violently under the repetitive attacks of the heavies, flames and sparks were flying everywhere. A final grenade tore through the rover into its ammo supply, setting off a chain reaction of large explosions from the inside out, killing the raiders on the inside, also severely injuring or killing the escort outside as well. Shrapnel rained on the outside of the remaining rovers and escort as they made their last leg to the main blockaded entrance.

The rovers then synchronized their attacks on one area of the gate, with high powered mass accelerator artillery shells spearing into the entrance of the colony's town square. The escort managed kill an five escorts and four heavies, as the defenders desperately tried to hold the gate. The explosions became louder to the marines and colonist volunteers as they steadied their weapons for the oncoming enemy. Shepard, still standing on the rubble, clicked the magnetic locking system of his hard-suit off on the missile launcher. He crouched on the rubble taking aim down the holographic cross-air, and pointed it at the now smoldering, dented gate. Then in one explosion, the gates crashed down to the debris littered ground, revealing two smoking rovers. Shepard shot off a rocket at the closest one, discharging a bluish hued covered the warhead as it was whistling through the air before plunging into its target. The metal gave way from the beating it had from the heavies, blowing off the driver section of the vehicle causing it to halt, stalling the other rover behind it. Batarian raiders then piled out of the damaged armored assault carriers and charged into the fray, guns blazing. The defenders gave off their own war cry as they began firing back at the attackers, never giving ground despite the instantaneous losses from unshielded volunteers.

The marines and volunteers slaughtered the initial wave of raiders, firing a barrage of rifle and shotgun rounds into the fray of the charging raiders. Shepard re-magnetized his rocket launcher onto his back, swiftly unpacking his assault rifle, charging into the fray of battle. The batarians then released a wave of pyrotechnics into battle, spraying liquid flame onto the nearest barricade. Shepard sprinting at an unnatural speed due to his storm boosters, began firing at the fuel tanks of the raiders. After eight marines and twelve volunteers were scorched, the punctured fuel tanks exploded, causing the raiders to be rained by fire and bloody chunks. Shepard not missing a beat continued to run at the raiders, spewing his mass accelerated rounds through kinetic barriers and armor. The batarians then halted in their tracks at a yelling N7 commando leaped through the blazing fire that moments ago fried the defenders, but left little scorch marks on Shepard's battle armor. Through mid-leap, Shepard used one hand to continually fire his rifle, while demagnetizing his shotgun, bringing it ready to bear against the enemy. Shepard landed on top of a wounded batarian, crushing his skull into violet goo with his armored boots. The N7 commando then deftly brought around his assault rifle, ramming the barrel against a nearby batarian, knocking him to the ground. John Shepard rolled to the ground with the momentum he created, magnetizing his rifle onto his back getting ready to bear his shotgun.

Rising to his feet, Shepard fired his shotgun once, tearing through the raider's shield' in a flash of blue light, and exploding his quad-set of eyes along with his face, dropping dead. Shepard continued to fire until his shotgun overheated, demanding an ejection of the thermal mag inside. Ignoring the overheated weapon, Shepard smashed the butt of the weapon into the face of the last of the initial raiding party. Dazed, the batarian could watch in horror as the N7 commando pulled a knife to deftly slice his throat. The raider could only gurgle and cough as it vainly tried to hold back the flow of violet tinted blood from escaped from his torn tissue. After ejecting a thermal mag, Shepard sheathed his knife back to its scabbard on his left arm guard watched with grim satisfaction as the raider fell dead, leaving a bloody stain next to the rest of his comrades bodies.

Shepard then heard his com burst in static before blaring in his ear, "Command$!, enemy's sen*$% $(ships! Get rea* aaaaarGH …..!" Shepard instinctively knew the gunships were coming and they spotted the surveillance post on the town center. He heard an ear-splitting explosion as the top of the town center was decimated by a cluster of rockets. All the defenders began pouring fire at not one, or two, but three gunships coming into view, hovering like massive birds of prey. The surviving heavy began unloading his grenade launcher at the nearest gunship, rocking it violently till one of its two hover-engines burst into flaming shrapnel. The gunship swayed precariously, discharging machine gun fire in sporadic directions, still managing to kill the heavy running on the ground. The gunship then crashed into the town center, caving in the entire structure on itself, sealing in the remaining defenders with the shelter.

One gunship began to fire heavy gunfire at the defenders, shredding the barricades apart, relentlessly reducing soldiers into shredded meat. The other gunship began to lower to begin to land more troops. Shepard then switched to pure instinct as he let the adrenaline pumping through, carry him across the battlefield in seconds. Shepard shut out the painful screams and shouts as his fellow comrades were being reduced to unrecognizable body parts, continuing to storm at the landing gunship's flank. As it was ten meters above the ground, the lone commando raced up a pile of rubble that towered above the landing aerial vehicle.

Everything happened in the next five seconds. One second, John detached a grenade while demagnetizing his rocket launcher. Two seconds, Shepard was leaping off the top of the tower of rubble towards the gunship, throwing in mid-leap the small but powerful explosive onto its flanking engine. Three seconds, the N7 commando is about to land on the top of the gunship's hull, grasping the missile launcher in his hands. Four seconds, Shepard lands solidly on the hull of the gunship, deftly aiming his weapon at the firing gunship. Five seconds, Shepard jumps off the landing gunship firing a missile, whose smart warhead guides itself straight toward the heat build-up of the rapid firing weapons. In mid-fall John punches the detonator, causing the engine to burst into a fireball, while a similar explosion happens above him near the smoking town center. Shepard could still see the ground coming to meet his speeding body as he braced himself for impact. The armor took most of the impact as he rolled into the debris. Shepard heard a deafening explosion of the landing gunship that crash landed just meters away, its shock waves blew his body into a crumbled structure, its faltering wall collapsed on him and was sealed away in darkness.

Shepard tried not to panic as his armor saved him from any crushing force the wall might have caused to an ordinary being. He struggled to move, noticing that his back was pinned by a scorched support beam. Shepard then used all the energy he had left to force the beam off his back. Success came as the beam slid off his rising body. Exhausted Shepard came to a wall of rubble that separated him from the outside. Noticing its integrity, Shepard demagnetized his shotgun, and blew away the rubble with his remaining mag.

Noxious fumes of smoke, metal and corpses flooded his nostrils as he forced himself to the outside. When he entered the square he stood not but an hour ago was a beaten fortress, was now a smoldering ruined husk of its former beauty. Most of the surrounding structures were like the one Shepard exited, just burnt ruins of former human architecture. He bore witness to dozens of battles before with the N7 commandos but never any as brutal as this. Shepard never took control of the battlefield with just locals to make do with a situation as grave as theirs. Shepard swore under his breath, knowing deep in the recesses of his mind that the batarians were too well informed for this. This was the most massive single attack on a colony in the traverse that has been ever recorded, as far as Shepard knew. Shepard began to call out for survivors as he fell and rose from body to body in his search. Very few looked intact so his search took little time.

He then saw the colonial marine sergeant, pinned under a block of iridium barricade. Shepard quickly sprinted to debris, pulling it off effortlessly, and grabbed the sergeant by the shoulders shaking them to register any reactions.

"Sergeant! Wake up, sarge!" Shepard yelled authoritatively. The man's rough features bore some

second degree burns and a scar that ran horizontally across his chin. The sergeant, after a few more shouts and insistent shakes, blinked his eyes open, registering the form of N7 lieutenant John Shepard in view. The sergeant smiled faintly rising himself upward to meet his savior in the face.

"Shepard?" he asked as he looked at the bloody face shaven face of the young N7 commando, blazing blue eyes shown with relief with subtle hints of sadness from the loss of comrades. The colonial looked around long and hard as he saw glimpses of his fellow troops who he served with since before he could remember. Rage was replaced with surprise as he gazed in awe of the burning wrecks of the pair of gunships.

The colonial looked at Shepard long and hard with amazement on his own features, as the N7 commando lifted him to his feet. 'This man is gonna be a hero after this,' he thought wistfully.

Then another sound, one of joy and relief came from above as a familiar sound of an Alliance shuttle landed in the midst of the town square. As marines burst out of the opened doors of shuttle, Shepard joined the rest of them to debrief them of the aftermath.

The sergeant looked good and hard at Shepard then the sky of over Elysium.

"Yup, you're going to great places for sure, Shepard," the colonial spoke audibly to himself as he jogged to rejoin the relief force to tell the good news to the survivors. The battle for Elysium was won.


	2. Chapter 1 Welcome Aboard

Chapter one: Welcome aboard

'7 years...hast it really been that long?' John Shepard, now Commander Shepard since his deployment in Elysium he was promoted. Just recently, John was asked to be the XO of the new frigate dubbed the 'Normandy'. Shepard was asked to gather his things and meet his new superior in the Alliance hangar of the Citadel. Shepard was summoned to the Citadel after a special shore leave he had

for three weeks, a third of the time the Alliance offered. The Commander felt like he would go crazy if he didn't get some kind of action soon.

He tried to relax, but between the news reports of the ongoing skirmishes in the traverse, and the 'relaxing' spa resort the Alliance booked him, he was starting to get twitchy. John even began entertaining the idea of starting some harmless chaos among the staff and guests just to keep himself from hysteria. But before Shepard's lethargic induced plans could come to fruition, the brass called him up. He was to be assigned to a new co-partnered designed frigate of unique make as the new XO. He even heard to his incredible joy that his new superior was the legendary Captain Anderson. If anyone fought more battles than John Shepard, it was Anderson. Shepard even heard not entirely exaggerated tales of his exploits or not over abundant stack of medals he's earned. Shepard knew the one thing he had in common with the Captain after reading his dossier, was will to get things done. He even was awarded the Medal of Honor, around the same age as when Shepard was when he was gifted with the universally ceremonial honor that few humans in history ever received.

Shepard carried little, as the life of a military man especially an N7 commando was Spartan at best. He carried what he needed such as spare clothes, toiletries, his own shaving kit, the works. What he carried extra was a small collapsible portrait of himself at age 14 flanked at either side were his parents, in a field of high grass and a small cubicle building. He smiled as he saw what he was holding proudly for the picture to capture: a small original telescope. It wasn't like one of the fancy ones where you could see high detailed depiction of the solar systems, but a real antique telescope. His father told him it was given to him by his father, and by him his father. He knew his parents in a way was trying to tell him that he would be able to explore the stars, far away from their cubicle farmland, on the pretty ordinary colony in the planet of Mindoir. That was his dream, until it was taken away.

Bitterness threatened to overtake the Commander, but halted his musing as the air taxi stopped off at the space dock. John quickly stashed his picture away into a pocket in his suitcase. John thanked the driver and picked himself up to exit the vehicle. When he stepped out of the air taxi, Shepard dropped his suit case with shock. Never in his entire life has he ever seen an Alliance ship so impressive, and so beautifully crafted. The craft was easily over fifty meters long, its hull 15 meters wide not including the wings. The wings themselves were about twenty five meters long stretched from the hull, each with three engines on each wing, independent from the aft thrusters above them. There was even a unique pair of fins stretching from the aft of the ship's hull in a slanted fashion, imitating a sea creature cross of a bird. The words SR1 was stamped on the side of the hull behind the letters Normandy that were proudly pale white in comparison with the grayish and black tints along the ship. Shepard then noticed a man he knew as Admiral Hackett, approach him steadily, his medals shining proudly in the lunar and artificial lights that filled the hangar bay the Normandy was berthed in.

Shepard made sure to stand erect and professional, as he had for every superior in his service to the Alliance Navy and Military, but paid special care not to seem like a gawking child before a shiny toy in front of the boss of bosses in the brass. John raised a hand in military salute and said professionally, "Commander John Shepard, N7 Commando Corps, reporting for duty, sir!"

"At ease, Commander," the grizzled admiral said as he returned an equally strong salute before

dropping his hand to his side. "Have you been fully debriefed, Commander?"

"All I have been notified was the fact I've been transferred to the crew of the Normandy as the

new XO, sir."

"Then you do know who the captain of the ship is am I guessing correctly, Commander?" Hackett said in a seemingly routine question that he had to ask as was the prior to just make sure the Commander was up to speed.

Commander Shepard then moved both of his hands behind him, making himself comfortable in

a at-ease stance before answering. "He's a decorated war hero. Has three times more honors and medals

than I have ever could hope in achieving, and that it is an honor to serve under such a man, sir." Shepard caught a smile tug at the base of the admiral's jawline. Hackett then reached a hand out before

saying, "Just wanted to make sure you knew what an honor it is to have you aboard under Anderson, Shepard."

Shepard returned the shake firmly before replying in abundant enthusiasm, "I do, sir. I'll do my best, sir!"

"I know you will, Shepard. You haven't so far, have you? Good luck, and God Speed!" Exclaimed the admiral with another salute which the Commander was only too happy to return. "Sir!"

"You better get aboard and get to know the crew. The Alliance wants that bird in the air in a few hours." With that, Admiral Hackett left walking purposely to Hangar elevators. It took a few moments for Shepard to gather himself and grab his belongings to rush off to his new posting. As he approached the air lock he was greeted by young marine bearing a blue Alliance standard uniform and beret.

"Commander, Shepard! Officer Jenkins, let me get that for you!" he asked ecstatically as he reached to take the only case John brought with him.

"Uh thanks, Officer Jenkins." Shepard said a little uneasy at being offered a hand when he wasn't even through the airlock yet. As the air hissed and the ship's VI announced the decontamination sequence the young officer shrugged away Shepard's hesitance.

"It's fine if you call me Jenkins, Commander. That is when you're off duty, Commander," the young officer rubbed the back of his neck nervously in spite of his enthusiasm. John smiled warmly as he grasped the young officer by the shoulder, surprising him as he smiled back to the young man.

"Of course, Jenkins. And call me Shepard, if you're off duty that is." The young marine smiled ear-to-ear with that and saluted back to his new superior enthusiastically. "I will, Commander. I'll try and work on that, sir." He said as the tell-tale hiss and whine of the air cycle finishing, caused the doors open all of its intricate locking mechanisms before revealing the interior of the Normandy to the two men. John briefly looked to right spotting what he assumed would be the CIC where he saw a half circle where a bright display of the milky way galaxy chart was visible to a podium that gave the viewer a view of the entire crew working on the many terminals to keep the frigate up to speed. Currently he noticed half of them were empty and the ones that were seemed to chatting to their shipmates before the ship got airborne.

As Jenkins gave his goodbyes and left with Shepard's belongings, Shepard noticed the bridge to his left where two men, one in the pilot seat, the other standing to his right, near the co-pilot seat were in conversation. Shepard moved to approach them slowly so as not to interrupt their deep set musings as he began to come up earshot of them.

"Man I can't believe what a ship I've got here, Kaidan! I mean this is one mean piece of machine," the man in the pilot's seat said to the dubbed 'Kaidan', as the pilot dramatically hovered his hands over the light-projected controls. The crew cut dark haired man, known as Kaidan, scoffed and before correcting Joker, "You do realize that you're piloting the multi-billion dollar vessel that the Alliance paid for, that the Alliance built co-partnered with the Turians, and it was the Alliance that asked you to be the pilot of their ship?"

The pilot scoffed aloud with a snort. "The Alliance practically begged me to pilot their work of art. They don't trust anyone else behind the wheel with anyone but me, so technically by responsibility and by earned right, this is my baby!" The pilot exclaimed lovingly as he seemed to hug to control panel with a mocking maternal emotion. Shepard had to stifle a chuckle from the comical actions the pilot displayed. Kaidan voiced aloud the absurdity of the pilot's attitude.

"Joker, knock it off! We're on duty for crying out loud and you're smothering the controls with your mouth."

"He didn't mean it, baby. No one appreciates you like I do," cooed the pilot, dubbed Joker, affectionately Kaidan rolled his eyes and raised his hands in defeat. To change subject, Kaidan turned around and knelt next to the pilot. "You heard about the XO, Joker?" Joker immediately stopped his incessant pawing of the controls of the panel and side-glanced Kaidan before speaking louder than what Kaidan would've liked.

"The Commander? Yeah, I heard about that. Supposed to be some big hero back several years ago, N7 corps."

Kaidan looked thoughtful up at the ceiling of the bridge. "Yeah. I looked up his record; served as a commando when graduated from the academy with honors. Served in the N7 corps as a

commando. His defining moment however was when he single handed defended Elysium from being overwhelmed by the batarian raiders after his unit was whipped out."

The pilot snorted, even through the rather impressive recollection from Shepard's exploits were raised, "Makes you wonder what kind of guy he's gonna be, you know?" absentmindedly Kaidan looked back to see a man in blue navy reg uniform with the XO brand on his left arm, watching with seemingly barely contained amusement. Kaidan tried to warn Joker to no avail, "Uh, Joker maybe you should..."

"I mean, come on Kaidan. A guy who goes through all of that can't be normal, am I right? He must be stiff as hell. A real hard-ass you know what I mean, Kaidan?"

"Joker." Kaidan said a bit more firmly trying to halt his colleague's rant as his apparent superior officer walked slowly with an unreadable expression on his face as he stood right to the pilot's left as continued to speak.

"...must've been a super soldier experiment and that's why he's here. He'll probably lobotomize us if we look at him the wrong way and replace us with VI's! I mean, he's gotta be..." Joker stopped in mid-sentence when he looked at a more-stiff-than-usual-Kaidan who was beginning to pale as he was facing Joker's left which in turned moved to left and saw the new XO observing the pilot. Like Kaidan,

the man seemed to wear the standard blue-dye navy reg uniform but also sported an Alliance issued ball cap covering a normal sized cropped hair, not obscuring his bright blue eyes, fair tan complexion along with a fairly neat trimmed brown beard.

"...right here," the pilot sheepishly finished his sentence before Shepard gave the pilot the most serious look he could force upon himself.

"You know, Joker was it? I never really have had too much use for wise crack pilots but never figured on what to do with them. Lobotomy sounds like an excellent alternative, VI's are more dependable these days anyway." Joker himself, looking more paled and sheepish all the time began stuttering a reply.

"You heard that? Well I-I was just kidding, you know that right? Commander?" Shepard then looked at Kaidan who then gave firm attention stance and salute before introducing himself, "Kaidan Alenko, Field Lieutenant of the Normandy, please forgive my colleague's

rudeness and coarse talk, sir!"

"At ease, Lieutenant. It was a joke," Shepard said releasing the grin he kept inside all along. Joker began to laugh nervously before returning to his old self. Kaidan also shared a chuckle, relieved that his new superior officer wasn't a hard-ass like Joker thought he would be.

"I give up, Commander! You had me going there, and here I thought I would have pack my bags

before being shot out of the airlock." All three of them laughed at that, Shepard definitely feeling less tense of fitting in with the crew. Enthusiastic as John is about being part of the greatest ship he's ever seen, or been on for that matter, he was feeling stressed on how the crew would treat him. But, after being waited by Officer Jenkins and the playful mockery with Joker and Kaidan, he felt more camaraderie among them now.

"Commander Shepard?" came a deep voice, authoritative voice from behind the Commander, shifting him into military mode. He turned on his heels deftly in a 180 degree turn and saluted at attention to whoever may be his superior.

"Commander John Shepard, reporting for duty!"

"At ease, kid. I may be your boss, but you don't need to be stiff around me," said owner of the voice who Shepard could only recognize from the debriefing on his mission to be Captain Anderson. His dark complexion shown of rigorous confrontations and trials that displayed a tough-as-nails exterior, only to be concealed by a navy blue reg uniform with medals adorning his upper left torso.

Shepard instantly melted from rigid stiff soldier, to enthusiastic new crew member as he shook the Captain's hand ecstatically. "I read your dossier, Captain and heard so much about you. It's an honor

working under such a hero!"

"Well now, I'm not the only hero here am I, Commander? You were after all, in your report, the only N7 commando to make it alive to the capital. You even held off the ground forces long enough for the Agincourt to push through." Shepard rubbed the back of his head nervously. He remembered doing a lot of things just as dangerous, if not more-so with his squadron. Shepard remembered solemnly. His team. That was what made his achievement great was the fact that he managed to survive when others didn't. How he managed to lead dozens of other good men to their deaths. It was all on him.

"Thanks, Captain. But if you read my report it would mention clearly that the fighting men of Elysium's colonial marines and brave volunteers were also at my side." The Captain smiled thoughtfully, as he placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder in a firm grip, creasing his navy blue reg uniform.

"I know that, son. They have and will not be forgotten for their bravery." After releasing his empathetic grip, he struck a thumb over his shoulder.

"Get down to the locker room near the mess hall to suit up. We're going to make a routine run for testing the stealth system of the Normandy at Eden Prime and I want you ready."

Shepard flagged a salute before walking past the captain to get geared up. Meanwhile, Anderson gave a look at both men to give him his full attention. 'At least most of their attention,' Anderson grumbled inwardly as he notice Joker still watching the Commander exit through the door to the living quarters down stairs.

"Joker," Captain Anderson barked at Joker getting eye contact for the first time since he showed up, "I want you and Alenko get this bird airborne immediately. Our special passenger has arrived," he said leaving with an exchange of salutes between the three men, a half-hearted one from Joker, before he left to his office.

"Great, a 'guest'. Just what we needed to make this trip so much fun, I was getting bored for a minute there," Joker said irritatedly as he swung his chair around, clicking the holographic keys starting up the drive controls for the Normandy.

"Be careful what you say around him, Joker. He is after all, a high priority passenger."

"Ha!" Joker scoffed before rolling his eyes at Alenko, who was now seated in the copilot seat across from his right. "The only 'high priority' on the Normandy is that I make sure not scratch her on the way out from port. Settle in, we're about to have some fun!"

The Normandy began to bustle with activity as everyone who looked like they were inactive switched to alert mode. Everyone ran to their stations, grabbing their seats before starting up their consoles to preform each others jobs so the prototype frigate will start up accordingly. With a low audible hum, the Normandy lifted off the hangar, reversing pass the vacuum shield, then making a 90 degree turn reverse before punching it forward away from the monumental station.

Aware of a Turian standing behind him, Joker continued to maintain control of the ship to the upcoming Mass Relay. The Relay sat still with opposing rotating gyros over a large globe of blue energy, contained in a gray tinted thermometer shaped platform easily ten times larger than the impressive frigate. Sounding off all the necessary procedures, Joker counted down from five til a large fork of energy engulfed the mobile frigate until it launched them into the void at remarkable speed.

"...all systems balanced. Drift: just under 1500 k," Joker said, finally reclining from his work, knowing he could make the jump in his sleep. The Turian behind him then said with satisfaction, "1500 k is good. Your captain will be pleased." He then left purposely passed an equipped Commander Shepard who seemed to have just witnessed the jump himself.

"I hate that guy," Joker said after the Turian was gone from sight for a while. Kaidan looked a little bewildered before asking, "Nihlus gave you compliment, so you hate him?" Shepard broke up any possible racist bashing by walking up right in the middle of the two men, riling up Joker into another tirade.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit out of the bathroom? That's good, because I just plotted a course the size of a pinhead, now that's impressive!" Joker exclaimed, his focus seemingly totally on the task at hand while making in-depth conversation with his colleagues. 'Now that I'd like to try,' Shepard mused at Joker's continued rant while still keeping his hands typing away at the console in front of him. Joker then muttered, "Besides Spectres are trouble. Everywhere they go, things go bad, and the Council wouldn't send a Spectre on a little shakedown. Call me paranoid."

Kaidan sighed. "You're paranoid. The Council invested in this project, they have a right to protect their investments."

"Yeah well sending a Spectre is a little overkill if you think about it," Joker challenged Kaidan, throwing him a mocking 'I-have-a-point' look at him, causing the other man to roll his eyes. In a prior life, John would've immediately defended the Council, them being the superiors at this situation, calling Joker paranoid would've been his past self's response. But ever since the battle of Elysium, he never assumed anything. The impossible, was always possible, and that way of thinking kept alive for seven more years in his career in the Alliance.

"I don't think this is just a simple blue milk run either. Why else would the Council send such a high-ranking agent aboard a testing of stealth systems?" He had to give Joker credit when it was due, sometimes.

Joker then triumphantly smirked at Kaidan replying, "So there's something the Captain is not telling us."

"Joker!" the intercom barked on the control console snapping any attention from the other two men to the gruff voice emanating in front of him, "status report!"

"We just came out of the mass relay, stealth systems are engaged, everything is a go, Captain," Joker responded like clockwork.

"Very good. Link up to the nearest comm buoy ; I want to debrief the Council before we get back to the Citadel," Captain Anderson ordered as such.

"Aye, aye, Captain. Better brace yourself, Cap, Nihlus is heading your way..."

"He's already here, Lieutenant," Captain Anderson growled at Joker's comment. Then console spoke again in a less menacing voice, "Tell Shepard to meet me in the Comm Room for debriefing." After that the console went silent. Joker turned his chair a little to face John before asking, "Wonder what the Captain wants with you? You just got here an hour ago."

Shepard could already guess why. "Great, you pissed him off! Now I'm going to be the one that takes the heat." Shepard groaned as he left the bridge, quickly marching his routine military styled walk towards the comm station.

"Don't blame me, he's always mad when he talks," Joker resigned indignantly.

Kaidan's mouth curls up to a smile. "Only with you, Joker. Only with you."


	3. Chapter 2 Eden Prime

Chapter two: Eden Prime

Commander Shepard passed the automatic door flanked by two blue dyed reg uniformed marines, after a brief exchange of salutes, entered the Comm room. What surprised Shepard next was that the Turian Spectre, Nihlus, was waiting for him, not Captain Anderson, intently studying the holographic image of what seemed to be a lush terrestrial world. The Turian's back turned Shepard glanced around cautiously before walking further into the room, an audible hiss/click of the Comm room's doors shutting. This didn't faze the Turian, who seemed to allow Shepard approach until he was several meters away.

When the Turian turned around to speak the Commander got a good look at the Spectre: Turians in general were tall, stalwart and muscular beings, with Nihlus being no exception. Nihlus was a good head-and-a-half taller than John, who was a little over six feet himself. His skin, technically scales, is a brown tinted complexion though most of his face was covered by white ceremonial paint of some sort. Shepard never read too much into Turian culture. His lips were composed of two flaps of skin, the upper layer of 'lips' overlaying the lower layer to form the mouth, while either side of his jaw was hidden by two scaled covered mandibles, common for his species. His head was bare, not that Shepard could expect aliens to wear hats or anything, but there was a typical Turian spine sticking out of the top part of the back of his head. His eyes were analytical, as he too sized up Shepard in the brief few moments before he spoke, hardened from more combat than even Shepard has probably seen.

"Commander Shepard. I'm glad that you've come when its just the two of us. It'll give a chance for us to talk," Nihlus said coolly, crossing his arms as Shepard an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Talk about what, Spectre?" The Commander asked the Council agent. John was wondering what they could possibly talk about.

"This world we're visiting, Eden Prime, I heard it's a beautiful world," the Turian said in a question hidden by a declaration, waiting for a response from the Commander. Shepard decided to humor him. After all, after speaking with 'Corporal' Jenkins earlier who was born and raised there, described it as one of the most beautiful colony worlds you'd find in the traverse.

John decided to answer the Turian Spectre as such. "It's one of the most beautiful colonies in the traverse."

The Turian nodded his head in agreement, "Yes, yes. This Eden Prime is a symbol for you humans, isn't it. A symbol not only you can reach for the stars, but also thrive in it. A symbol of peace and tranquility, but how safe is it really?" The Commander got a disapproving tone from the guttural alien accent only Turians could produce from their vocals. But John could tell an agenda behind a conversation, no matter what the species.

"What are you getting at, Nihlus?" John asked smoothly. As Nihlus began turned around, right hand twitched instinctively when in a tense situation, it usually ended with his sidearm in their face. This time, John kept still as Turian walked toward him, only two meters in between them as he deliberated his next sentence with a challenging tone.

"Your people are newcomers to the galaxy, Commander. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?"

Just as Shepard was about to throw a retort at Nihlus, Captain Anderson entered the Comm room, nodding his head with a brief , 'Commander,' before speaking to Nihlus in a serious tone, "I think we need to tell the Commander what's really going on."

Shepard looked between the two high-ranking individuals before replying, "I knew there was more to this mission then what you were letting on." With that said, the captain furrowed his eyes in a expression that John knew was serious.

"You're right. This is a covert mission which entails the acquirement of a special package. It's Prothean, Shepard." A nerve of excitement and fear went up the Commander's spine as he tried to recall who the Protheans were. To his knowledge, the Protheans were an ancient civilization which dominated the galaxy as a vast empire. Then without warning, they disappeared with nearly no evidence of their existence with it along with whatever means of absence they took. The fact they were picking up an artifact of an advanced extinct race must be big.

"So they found an artifact of this ancient race on this tranquil place? If it was our colony found it, why is the Spectre here?" Shepard asked, already knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

Like clockwork, the Turian answered his question condescendingly, "Your kind has been deemed irresponsible for this task. Your species has been known to be rash, unpredictable, even dangerous. It would be safer and more beneficial if the Council acquired the beacon." Shepard never thought of himself a racist, except when it came to the Batarians, he is quite open to interpretation to points of views from other species. With this brief exchange of one the Turian's best and brightest; Shepard found an uncanny resentment boiling under his skin. Fortunately before John did anything he'll regret, the Captain spoke up.

"This is big, Shepard. With this contribution to the Council, we'll be one step closer with establishing a firm control over galactic politics. The Alliance will truly benefit in more ways than one on this mission." Shepard gave the weathered Captain a confused look, and once again the Spectre spoke up to connect the dots.

"There is another reason why I'm here. The Spectres have taken an interest in you, Commander. I've looked over your record extensively, which is quite impressive. Especially that battle in Elysium. It was said you held you held the enemy off single handedly. That kind of courage and resolve is the kind of thing the Spectres are looking for. It's why I put up your name for recommendation."

John then answered the Turian a little hesitantly, "Why would a Turian Spectre recommend a human?"

"Not all Turians see humans as burdens or dangers. Some of us see the potential and greatness you can aspire to others. Like I said about Elysium, you being the only one with your courage and resolve unshaken is something the Spectres are willing to exploit." Shepard then was taken aback by the Turian that not a minute ago was explaining how the Council sent him to keep an eye on the humans, now saying he came with a beneficial goal as well.

Shepard threw a side glance at Anderson before speaking. "I'm sure the Alliance will benefit from this?"

A fire lit up in Anderson's eyes as he spoke with energy as he spoke with assurance, "This is big Shepard! The first time a human is selected as a candidate for Spectres will give the Alliance more leeway in the concerning decisions of the galaxy. Maybe even a seat on the Council!"

The Turian stepped forward to Shepard purposely, "Eden Prime will be the first of many missions together. I'm anxious to see your skills in action once when we're done with our business here." Shepard allowed himself a slight smile come across his face. To be given sacred title of Spectre is something Shepard could only imagine. His authority would be his own; no one would question his methods or his results. He would report directly to the heads of the most prominent races in the galaxy. He would explore more space than he ever could as an N7 operative. John thought about his parents and how proud they would be of him. Then he remembered a vague memory of his past life but it began to drive himself into regret and despair. With a slight clench of his fists, Commander John Shepard banished the images from his mind as well as the smile that vaguely played over his face.

With new resolve, Shepard looked at the Captain head-on, back in military mode. "When do we get there?"

"Any minute we should reach…" the Captain was cut-off as the intercom blared with Joker's voice in a urgent tone. "Captain we got an emergency broadcast planet-side." All three of the high-ranking individuals stiffen with alarm. The Captain marches forward to the far end of the Comm room before ordering "Bring up the visual in the Comm room, Joker!"

Suddenly the screen is filled with a sporadic view of colonial marines firing their weapons at all points except the camera. At one point a female marine in white armor shoved the broadcaster down, giving a nearly vertical view of the feminine warrior firing behind where the broadcaster was. Then the screen shifted to and fro until a marine in heavy armor and a desperate weathered face began to shout for evac. His calls were in vain as something blasted through his chest spattering drops of blood on the screen. Then an ominous blaring sound drowned out all the sound of battle. The broadcaster turned to one soldier then the other as each of them lowered their weapons in fear and awe at something in the sky. The screen then turned in the direction of the commotion as it zoomed in on a floating dark machine. Its shape was that of a giant squid, from Shepard's perspective, with crimson energy arcing in and out of it, like blood colored electricity. The ominous blare turned to an ear-piercing screech as the soldiers viewed via the broad caster began clutching their ears falling to the ground in visible pain. The screen began to cut out as well before turning into pure static.

"It's cut out like this. Nothing coming in or out of the planet either," Joker said solemnly, clearly showing that he saw the whole message as well. Shepard clenched his fists feeling his blood boil, knowing there was some unknown terror that not even a colonial garrison can handle.

Captain Anderson then spoke with resolve as he ordered, "Joker rewind and hold at 2:23 on the broadcast!" The screen turned back from static to the blurred images of the soldiers in panic, until it froze on the image of the unknown mother ship hovering in the skies of Eden Prime. The Turian twitched his mandibles in an unknown emotion of…fear perhaps? Anticipation? Indifference? Shepard couldn't tell with his limited interaction with the Spectre's species. Maybe in time he could learn more about them in the coming missions he would partake with the mysterious Council agent. Anderson clearly showed his hatred toward the enemy, his brows furrowed, and his eyes staring intently at the image of the enemy.

"Orders, sir?" Joker asked, unsure how they were to proceed. Anderson then barked his usual tone with Joker with an undertone of urgency laced on it. "Take us down, fast and quiet! This mission has got a whole lot more complicated."

"Understood, Captain."

"Nihlus! Prep up and meet us down at the cargo hold," The Captain ordered the Spectre agent. Nihlus moved deftly with purpose out of the Comm room, leaving the Captain looking over his shoulder as he left and the XO staring with unknown fear brewing in his gut that something was not right.

A few minutes later the Normandy approached swiftly toward the Earth-like atmosphere of Eden Prime, briefly going through entry before entering the planet itself. Joker then piped in, "We've just exited planet entry, Captain. Someone's done some serious digging."

As the Normandy did a sweep over the landscape it settled over a relatively nice LZ for touchdown. As the cargo doors opened, wind was howling from the vertical lift thrusters the Normandy was outputting. The Captain stood before the three man squad comprised of Corporal Jenkins, Field Lieutenant Alenko, and XO Commander Shepard, all equipped with Alliance reg weapons and grey matted gladiator class armor, with the exception of Shepard's N7 standard armor. The Captain currently was giving them the lowdown of how the mission was to proceed, them three acting as the muscle of the operation, taking out anything hostile and finding out what happened to the beacon, and if possible, secure it back into Alliance hands. Jenkins then turned his gaze to the impressively armed Turian.

"Nihlus, you coming with us?" The Corporal asked, excited as his first mission from the Normandy was happening right now.

Nihlus checked his Spectre class shotgun before responding matter-of-factly, "I work better alone." The Spectre then charged out the landing ramp of the Normandy onto the planet's surface, moments later he disappeared from view.

"Nihlus will scout ahead, get an idea of what we're up against! You will give him support as acting as the main force to spearhead to the dig site where you'll regroup to obtain the beacon at all costs." Shepard gave a firm salute before saying confidently, "He count on us, sir!"

"I know! Good hunting, Commander!" With a return salute the Captain watched the three man team exit the frigate onto the ground of Eden Prime, on a mission that would change things more than anyone realizes.

As the frigate took off the ground with a blast of thrusters, the view of the once tranquil and beautiful landscape of Eden Prime, was twisted into an image of terror and death. Black smoke rose out of the once green fields and structures that made up the colony, skies already an unhealthy crimson hue. Shepard grimaced at the site, all too familiar with sites of destruction and pillaging of colonies, space stations, derelict ships, the list kept going on in his mind. He looked over at Jenkins instinctively knowing he was a native of the colony here. Jenkins was saying things like, "What happened?" or "Who could've done this?"

Shepard then said solemnly, "Well you said you wanted a real mission, Corporal." With that said, Jenkins was knocked out of his stupor and responded with new vigor, "You're right! I'm sorry, I'm just a little shaken up, knowing my first real mission happens to be my homecoming, and seeing in such a mess too. Don't worry, I'll do my job, Commander!"

"That's all you can do, Jenkins," Shepard said putting a firm hand on Jenkins' shoulder, a sign of comfort to the young Corporal.

Kaidan then spoke up, "C'mon, Commander. We got to get to the dig site." With that the trio swiftly descended a hill in squad formation with Shepard on point. When they descended the hill strange bulbous aliens hovered a couple feet up off the ground. Kaidan startled at the new sights hesitated with his weapon aimed at unidentified creatures.

"What the heck are those?" Kaidan asked nervously. Jenkins chuckled as he motioned to the bizarre things nonchalantly.

"Relax, they're gas bags, harmless really." Kaidan sighed with relief as he pointed his weapon away from the strange animals.

"Careful, Lieutenant. Don't waste your ammo on the local fauna or there'll be none left for the enemy." The group shared a collective laugh before moving forward through the lush terrain. The land sure brought back memories for John. Back to when he was just a simple colony kid, without a care in the world, dreaming of the stars. Staring through telescopes, writing in his journal his deepest thoughts, playing with his neighbor Tabitha, all brought him nostalgia of simple times gone. He grinded his teeth together, knowing that the grim fact was that another simple colony has been dragged into another senseless battle.

Just then, Shepard was snapped out of his stupor when he realized the path up ahead lead into a clearing that would leave them completely exposed. He raised a fist in the air, a hand sign to his men to halt. Shepard observed the meadow up ahead. It seemed to quiet, too quiet for the Commander. He then motioned for Jenkins to check it out, leaving Alenko to cover their rear. Jenkins cautiously made his way from cover to cover getting closer to the meadow. Shepard looked around suspiciously. 'Something's not right,' the former N7 agent thought to himself nervously. Then the worst thing happened ; his hunch was right.

The moment Jenkins made break for the clearing, it was already too late. A pair of single optic drones buzzed out hiding like cunning wasps, instead of stingers they had small mounted weapons underneath their circular/oval shaped bodies. The pair of mechanical drones fired with pin-point accuracy, instantaneously bypassing the kinetic barriers that should've protected the Corporal, blasting through his armor splaying blood everywhere. Jenkins barely got a scream out before his lungs were scorched as well. His body didn't even hit the ground when the Commander and the Lieutenant fired upon the drones, destroying them effortless. Jenkins' last thoughts revolved around his first meeting the Commander, and how they joked they'd try to act more informal around each other.

'It would've been awesome to fight with a guy like that,' Jenkins thought before letting the darkness take him away.

Alenko knelt beside the Corporal body, observing the damage. Seeing the blood oozing through the large holes created by the weapons, was evidence that the mass accelerator rounds were definitely phasic or proton in nature. He lifted his body from the young Corporal's side before speaking.

"Weapons tore right through his barriers! He didn't stand a chance," Kaidan said bitterly. Shepard was no stranger to loss or the shock of seeing a comrade die. But he knew if he dwelt on it, he wouldn't have strength to go on.

He then spoke solemnly to the Lieutenant with a little strength behind it. "Once the mission is over we'll give him a proper funeral and memorial, but I need you to stay focused on the mission."

With that the Lieutenant spoke strength renewed, "Aye, aye, Commander!" After placing a locator on the body for pickup later, the two rushed off charged with resolve and adrenaline pumping through their veins. They encountered three more pairs of scout drones, not nearly up to snuff against Alliance soldiers. What was nagging Shepard's mind was that however powerful their weapons were against shields without repeated impacts, the mass accelerated rounds would have little effect individually against their armor. The drones themselves were equipped with low energy barriers and the armor came apart like plastic under precise shots. 'It seems they're checking the area for any survivors, or intruders,' the N7 trained Commander deduced. After dispatching the last pair of drones, gunfire was heard up ahead, similar to the discharge of the drones' mounted weapons. The two soldiers rushed up to a boulder for cover before Shepard unlatched and unpacked his Striker class sniper rifle to get a bird eye's view at the confrontation.

From what Shepard saw, there was a soldier, feminine by her build, moving at adrenaline heightened speeds from a pursuing drone. A couple shots grazed her barriers, causing her to stumble before racing ahead. Then the weapon of the pursuer became more erratic and less accurate, due to the excess heat it was trying to dispel while firing on the enemy. Taking the opportunity, the female soldier dropped and rolled until she was facing her oppressor, pistol in hand firing once, three times, all perfect shots easily dispersing the enemy's barriers and piercing its weak armor. The little drone spun out of control until a miniature explosion occurred due to the overloading systems and impact of the earth. 'She's good,' Shepard said with admission, with a little attraction to the female comrade. Then noticed hesitancy in rising from the victor as her gaze was fixed fifty or sixty yards away. What looked like humanoid shaped synthetics, similar manufacturing from the identical single optics flaring like flashlights upon a single colonist, who looked barely conscious. After a few moments later, a giant spike protruded from a small tripod device, impaling the man with a rain of blood and guts, the man hung limply from the crucified position.

After seeing enough he saw that the female soldier saw enough too, making a desperate break for a nearby boulder. Unfortunately, the machines took notice of her flight and bore weapons after some non-commutable language was conferred to one another. After reaching the boulder, the female soldier holstered her sidearm then unlatched her universal Avenger assault rifle. With at least six synthetics closing in on her location, there was no way in Shepard's mind that she would last long. After magnetizing his rifle back onto his back, exchanging it for his Avenger, he motioned Alenko to engage. The two men deftly stormed their way across the battlefield thankfully not being given much heed until they reached the woman's cover. When they reached it, Shepard immediately sprouted from cover taking good aim at their nice bull's-eyes targets their optics made, firing the Avenger at the hostile machines. After shields flared from the overload of use, two synthetics were down, white liquid coolant of sort oozed from their 'heads'. The other four staggered little for the unknown variables encountering them. They began spray chaotic fire at the oncoming aggressor, as Shepard made dive for a boulder for cover. The Lieutenant then let loose some sort of telekinetic burst from one of the synthetics, holding momentarily dangling in the air. As fast as it was lifted off the ground it was shot like a cannon toward its tightly grouped comrades, giving off a unique shriek as all for of them made a sickening metallic slicing crunch sound, pieces of them scatter awry with more liquid coolant oozing from their shells.

Shepard gave a quick look from cover before rising from his cover, trotting his way over to his comrade and subordinate. "I think I neglected to read your file, Lieutenant," The Commander said with amazement and awe laced in his voice. Kaidan gave a shrug,

"Yeah, I'm a biotic. Not entirely uncommon in the Alliance military, but I was assigned to the Normandy for a reason, Commander."

With a hearty laugh Shepard then said, "I'll make sure to incorporate your skills in future tactics, Lieutenant." From Shepard's knowledge on biotics, they were individuals, like Alenko, who could control dark energy. After exposure to 'ezo' (aka Element Zero), most biotics express unique abilities, mostly at a young age ; depending on the species, certain types of training is undergone and implants were given to those weren't 'natural' biotics. Depending on the variety, expense, and methods of training, biotic abilities manifest uniquely in each individual, yet similar in how they tap into the power. Shepard remembered witnessing biotics in action, both from his own N7 units and the enemy. He even survived an encounter with a mercenary band of Asari Commandos. 'I'll try not to piss off my friend here then,' the Commander warned himself in any future, if any unlikelihood that the collected and professional Lieutenant Alenko would lose his cool, but all the same he would try not to upset him in the future.

After their brief exchange, the two Alliance soldiers turned to address the female marine. The armor seemed to be the same from the marine who shoved the broadcaster out of harm's way; the armor was white with pink borders with minor scalding to the armor itself. She stood at perfect attention to address herself to them.

"Ashley Williams of the 22nd Alliance garrison reporting for duty, sir." Shepard had to admire the woman for keeping her nerve under such heavy fire. It was a wonder to the Commander that there weren't more like her that he's met.

Immediately though under circumstances, Shepard had to make sure she was alright.

"Commander Shepard of the Normandy, are you all right, Williams?" It was common practice of his part to call fellow military comrades by their last name as a sign of respect.

The marine didn't seem to mind and quickly answered, "No just a few burns and bruises; nothing that will slow me down, sir."

Shepard looked around the recent battleground while asking, "Can you tell me about what happened here, Williams?" Williams visibly clenched her fists as she began to pace back and forth.

"One minute our garrison was just chatting about our boring post. The next thing I know, the Geth start shooting anything that moves or…impaling them on those 'dragon's teeth'."

Alenko quickly answered disbelief in his voice, "Impossible! The Geth haven't been seen outside of the veil in nearly three hundred years!" Shepard nodded in agreement. The Geth were known to have secluded them ever since their creators were driven from their home world. The Geth are synthetic platforms that evolved using a network 'sharing' collective to exchange data and thoughts. Eventually their network was so vast, that they became a self-aware artificial intelligence. The creators panicked, attacked the machines before they attacked them, and after centuries of bloody war, they were driven into exile from their home, doomed to become vagabonds in a galaxy that treats them like pariahs. Shepard enjoyed cross-species culture studies on his spare time and was surprised that information would become valid on the subject of Geth. Then a thought occurred to Shepard.

"Oh, crap! If they are the Geth, then they know we're here! Quickly, Williams where's the dig site?" John asked in a gravely serious voice.

Williams pointed a thumb behind her. "That's where I was originally. The Geth seemed to want that Prothean beacon badly if they tried to drive us out from there."

Shepard waved his hand in dismissal, "That's what we're here for! Listen, come with us and help us get to that beacon! We don't have a lot of time!"

With a swift salute and a, "Yes sir," the new addition to the team rushed at top speeds to the dig site. Shepard hoped they weren't too late.

Author's Notes- I'm sorry I've been neglecting to do these notes ! It just never occurred to until now. So yeah, Shepard just got Ash to join his team to get to the Prothean beacon! Will get there in time, and what other unexpected things will happen that will have massive impact not on just his future, but civilization as we know it?

Terms- For those of you who don't know…

N7 Commandos-The best of the best that the Alliance has to offer ranking up from 1 to 7, are combatants who've battled over thousand worlds and have steered off the most impossible odds.

XO-The second-in-command of the ship and is field commander on the ground. When the captain is off-ship or is no longer fit to command, the XO is put in charge.

A/N ps: I appreciate all readers who come to enjoy my written work. And I'm saying now for the chapters before, this one and the future ones to be published, I don't own Mass Effect, the characters, the story, or Commander Shepard (You rock!). I hope you'll continue to read my story and enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Reviews, comments, and ideas for the story are much appreciated! THX!


	4. Chapter 3  The Beacon

Chapter three-The Beacon

The three moved quickly across the grassy paths of Eden Prime to the dig site where hopefully the beacon was located. With Williams taking Jenkins position from before, they had no problems maneuvering, and it seemed a little natural to have a natural soldier standing beside him. Shepard didn't have anything against Jenkins, he was a heck of a soldier with plenty of patriotism and enthusiasm which some soldiers he knew didn't have. But Williams seemed to obey orders and didn't slack when she could. She was a soldier, through and through.

The group eventually spotted a rocky clearing where they could see a walled up structure with no roof. The doors were open and with Shepard's HUD he picked up the Geth's bipedal bodies patrolling inside the structure. The Commander held a fist up to halt the other two. Using the same hand, Shepard adjusted his HUD to see if he could see the beacon. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell from the distance they were at, and the constant patrols of, from what Shepard estimated, to be around half a dozen Geth troopers guarding the area.

Shepard then kneeled down beckoning the others to huddle behind him. He addressed them in a hushed tone, "You see that down there, Williams? Is that the dig site?" Williams replied instantly.

"Yeah, that's the place. Should be guarded pretty well too."

"Then we'll have to be extra careful then, won't we?" Alenko said sagely. Shepard then gave them the plan of attack after a couple nods of agreement, the trio stealthily made their way across the rocky field. Shepard took up stock behind a boulder, unlatching his compacted Striker class rifle to get his bearings while the other two were silently creeping ahead to some cover before the openings of the dig site's walled structure. Steadying himself behind his stone cover, Shepard looked down the scope of his Striker bull's eying his partners at their covers waiting for the signal. After a few moments of decision, the Commander decided he would choose the farthest back of the group of synthetics. With a squeeze of the trigger, a powerful mass accelerated round whizzed through the air at almost sound-barrier speeds, sliding through the vulnerable optic easily and exiting with ease and massive insides following it. With all the Geth turning to momentarily register their partner's husk falling limply to the ground backwards, comically to the Commander's amusement, not noticing the charging humans who began raining a volley of their own. Not taking his eyes off the scope, Shepard saw three Geth bodies drop before their shields turned on. Two more appeared in Shepard's scope as he predicted and began to try and take cover in exposed space of the dig site. Shepard shot the farthest on the left, breaking through the troopers shields and shattering his shoulder joint holding its weapon. While Williams dealt the killing blow with a burst of Avenger rounds to the chest, shattering and blasting apart with white coolant spraying amidst, Alenko hurled the last screaming Geth into the rock wall the behind the site itself, smashing it unrecognizably into many pieces and pale coolant staining the earth wall. The battle took under ten seconds to Shepard's realization and a smile of achievement across his lightly bearded face. 'At least one thing went as planned,' the Alliance Commander thought, hoping his luck will continue to go like this.

Shepard then hauled himself off his cover point and began to jog over to join the rest of his squad. As soon as he got within visibility of the site itself, the former N7 commando grimly set back into reality. He saw a vigilant Alenko keeping an eye on the two opposite exits of the open-door palisade that was constructed a plainly empty dig site with a frustrated and desperate Williams flailing her arms around where the beacon should've been.

"I don't get it! It should be here," Williams muttered with frustration. That's when something clicked in Shepard's mind.

"They've been here for hours, and searching for survivors. Of course this place was minimally guarded!" Shepard shouted in frustration of his own. He began blaming himself for being hopeful, not worth noting the significance of the small numbers. When something's too easy, expect your mission to be harder ; those words of wisdom from his boot camp instructor back on Earth kept his mind sharp and his instincts keen. 'Why else would there be **only** six Geth, idiot,' Shepard mentally battered himself for not being aware of this scenario.

Alenko managed to press on in a seemingly depressing situation. "Well, can you tell if it was our side or the Geth that took it?" He asked as calm if not a tad hurried question, pressed for time as they were.

Williams shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know for sure. Could be anyone really, I've never saw any of the Geth take the beacon, but I guess that I was a little focused on surviving then taking stock of things."

Shepard then took part in the conversation asking, "Do you think there could be any survivors?" His hope was coming dangerously close to blurring his instincts, but he forced himself to be prepared for the worse. If what Shepard saw earlier with the man impaled in an almost cultic way, Shepard began mentally preparing himself for a lot more horrors to meet him.

A glimmer of hope shined behind a shade of doubt in the young woman's eyes. "I guess there could be survivors, if they hid right away or managed to find a really good foxhole. They would be up the hill over there," the marine pointed up to the Shepard's right, where a green hill curved up beyond the view of the metallic palisade around the site. Shepard wanted to wait for the Spectre, but he was getting worried about him. The only transmission he got was when the trio just left their first conflict site. He said something about a lot of dead bodies and said he was moving on.

As if reading his mind, the transmission came over his suit's radio, "Shepard, sorry for not checking back, but I noticed a spaceport just up ahead. I'm going to check it out. Nihlus out," with that the Turian Spectre cut his transmission as suddenly as it came. 'It would've helped if he took out a few for us,' the Commander grumbled inwardly. Noticing the brief exchange, the biotic raised his eyebrow underneath his visor of his helmet in silent query. Shepard flexed his hand away from the side of his helmet, gripping the handle of his Striker in release of frustration.

"Our '**ally**' was just giving me an update that he wanted check the spaceport up ahead," letting every word drip with resentment at the Council agent. 'Should've known,' Shepard grimaced at the fact their cohort wouldn't give them any necessary support.

When Alenko sighed in understanding, Williams looked between them confused.

"There's more of you?" She asked with a shred of hope attached.

Shepard spoke in a solid stance, but a bitter matter-of-fact tone, "Yes, but don't expect much support for him, he's just sightseeing is all. Blasted Spectre! Should've expected that coming," he spat out venomously.

Williams just looked at him in wonder, "You had a Spectre with you and he decided to scout ahead? Why didn't I see him earlier? I thought I would've seen him before now."

"You wouldn't have been able to miss him. He's a Turian, packed with enough firepower to take down a platoon single-handedly," the Lieutenant described to the marine, with a hint of hope she saw him.

"Nah, no Turians around here. I definitely would've seen him coming," Williams confessed.

Shepard rolled his eyes in annoyance and raised his voice for the others to focus, "We're wasting time here. We don't need him anyway. Williams will lead the way so we can find some survivors. Hopefully we can get a better idea what to expect from our enemy."

"Yes, sir! C'mon," the marine beckoned the two of them with herself in point, and Shepard on the right with Alenko on the left. As they exited the dig site, the trio marched their way steadily up the hill. The smell began to worsen with each step as Shepard eyed a few bodies strewn along the path. Undeterred, the three eventually came to top of the hill, where an assortment of boxed shaped buildings were joined in an L shape, fires and smoke were visible from burning machinery.

"This is the place," Williams said grimly observing the sight as she spoke.

"Careful," Alenko spoke cautiously hushed, "this is a good place for ambushes." The trio slowly advanced, sweeping the area for potential hostiles. Shepard smelled the stench was at an all high for nauseous, as he smelled a mix of smoke, and strange mixture of an oily-rotting corpse collective. Shepard stiffened as he noticed the source of the stench. Over a dozen unidentified people were impaled identical to the man they saw before, except these victims' clothes seem to have fallen away revealing a very horrifying look across the group. One of the spikes lowered with a screeching noise, letting the previously impaled body fall to his feet. Alenko swore out loud and Williams gasped at the now moving corpse, for Shepard could plainly see that it was definitely not alive.

"Assume it's hostile! Open fire," Shepard shouted as he shot the 'husk' shell coming toward him right between the eyes, bluish machine coolant and parts splattered behind it's skull as the other two pelted its falling body with a few rounds of their own, for good measure. When Shepard discharged his thermal clip, all of the 'dragon teeth' as Williams put it, screeched down to their tripod sheaths, releasing blue sparking zombies upon them. As the other two rained death upon the running husks, Shepard deftly exchanged his Striker for his Avenger, taking head shots as they rushed mindlessly toward the three. Within moments, the horrifying battle scene that Shepard could only imagine in a horror vid, began to draw to a close, as husks fell down moaning and screaming as their bodies died a second time. Before the last of the husks got too close, Lieutenant shouted to get out of the way as he unleashed an impressive biotic blast from an outstretched arm. The bluish aura flew across his arm blurring the environment in a single shot, hurtling all the husks in a collective sickening crunch as their bodies were crushed beyond recognition and twisted in irregular angles with some bluish coolant leaking out of their bodies. Observing the scene grimly, the biotic stated, "Must take a couple hours before they…transform."

"Let's check those buildings for survivors," the order from Shepard's mouth sounded empty of hope. 'No one could survive this,' he thought morbidly to himself. As they checked one building to the other, they managed to obtain some spare thermal clips, and some RC grenades. Eventually they came across a locked building and, due to the Lieutenant's technical skills, hacked through the mechanisms to find two scientists, one middle aged red haired woman and the other a middle aged balding man with a twitchy look in his eyes.

The woman exclaimed with relief, "Rescuers? Oh thank, God! I was beginning to think we were done for!" Shepard put his Avenger at a resting position before speaking his team falling in line, "You're safe now, can you tell me what happened?"

The woman, whom he guessed was a scientist by the long sleeved gloved uniforms they were wearing, rubbed her hands nervously as she began to explain what happened.

We were just studying our notes from our findings on the beacon one moment. The next, there was shooting and screaming everywhere! The marines shoved us in jamming the lock from the outside before they fought to the bitter end," the scientist gasped faintly, knowing how close she was to death, "they gave their lives for us."

"Do you know where the beacon is? We didn't see it at the dig site," Shepard said with an urgent tone in his voice, desperate to catch up for lost time.

The woman hesitated a bit after hearing of its absence of the dig site, "Well…I guess it could be at the docking station. I'm guessing that's where it'll be if either party has taken it, considering you could hide it there or take somewhere else."

The scientist next to her scoffed out loud startling her as he spoke in a hoarse ecstatic voice, "It doesn't matter what anyone does! We're all doomed regardless of the aid we give our 'saviors' to complete their task. Armageddon is upon us! You did not see the truth but I saw it! Oh gods, I saw it all!" The man began to shout as he raved on, babbling his warnings. 'This is beyond post-traumatic-stress. He's loony,' Shepard concluded as the man began muttering to himself now.

Shepard gestured to the 'delirious' man, "What's wrong with your colleague, professor?"

The woman side-glanced nervously at the man mentioned before responding, "Who, Dr. Manuel? He's a brilliant man but has become…unstable ever since his study on the beacon. I've given him medication, but it won't have any effect until a few hours." Shepard observed a crazed look behind the man's eyes and saw a desperate man. Shepard decided what he would do probably give this poor man some sense.

"Say good-night, Manuel," Shepard said in a creepy sing-song voice, as he made a couple deliberate steps toward the unstable doctor.

Noticing his intentions, the scientist began to protest, "You cannot silence the truth! My voice must be heard…" after his last utterance there was a grunt as solid punch underneath the man's chin, knocked him cold, is body crumpling to the ground. The woman gasped uttering profanity in surprise while Williams giggled, which Shepard thought was cute, and Alenko chuckling at the sudden action Shepard partaken.

"What did you do that for? You don't go around hitting people," she rebuked indignantly, like scolding a child for slapping a playmate. Shepard caught a few words from Alenko along the lines of, "That was a little extreme, Commander." Shepard waved nonchalantly responding, "Relax, it was obvious he was under a lot of stress and mental trauma. He needed the rest."

The female colleague sighed admittedly, "Well I suppose you're right. At least this way the meds will finally kick in."

Shepard then turned his back on the scientist to give his two teammates the next command, "C'mon. We have to get to that loading dock!"

"Aye, aye, Commander," Alenko said with a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. As the three exited the small building, onward to the loading dock, Shepard could still hear the uncontrollable giggles from Williams. Shepard rolled his eyes with a smirk across his face. 'The guy had it coming anyway. I hate loons,' he thought to himself jocularly as they continued the mission.

Nihlus approached a pile of crates when he saw a single stalking figure in the middle of the space dock. Instincts told him to take cover first, ducking behind the packing containers. Breathing in and out, gripping his gloved talons on his Spectre gear class assault rifle before bursting from cover to aim at the lone figure. Shock ran through his body as he slightly lowered his rifle to see a familiar face.

"Saren," he said out loud, mandibles lowering back in surprise as the other unmistakable three pronged head spined grey skin toned Turian turned around to face him. His eyes shone a bright machine-like blue light as it bore on the other Turian's image. His casual manner stiffened hidden as he uttered, "Nihlus," with a hidden disdain of disgust.

The young Spectre advanced toward the other Turian asking baffled, "This isn't your mission, Saren. What are you doing here?"

The other Turian Spectre waltzed over, back in his confident casual stride, place a glove covered set of talons on the younger Spectre's shoulder. "The Council thought you could use a bit help, friend," the older Spectre stated as matter-of-factly while slipping his hand back to an unnoticed Spectre class sidearm.

Nihlus let his rifle down relaxed at the logical answer that was given, given the circumstances. "Everything's a mess with the Geth here. The situation looks bad."

Slowly and silently the older Spectre drew out his sidearm and pointed it at the younger Spectre's back saying, "Don't worry, I've got everything under control."

As the trio of soldiers drew nearer to their destination an unease of silence overcame the landscape. No signs of wildlife or even enemies have come to greet them in the last few minutes of their military jog. Then, without warning a crackling sound rang in the air, stirring up some nearby birds hiding from the battle taking to the sky. Shepard made sure to make a copy of that sound in his HUD's audio database on instinct. 'That wasn't Geth weapon fire,' Shepard knew from experience and their recent battles the difference between their weapons and the Geth's. Shepard halted the team as he noticed something in the horizon. The ghastly image of the unknown craft began to rise behind the space dock under a pilfer of smoke and arcs of red lightning.

"Look at the size of that thing," Alenko exclaimed. Shepard could only gape in agreement. The mother ship was larger than any Alliance's dreadnaughts in their entire fleet. The squid-looking colossus sized ship ascended into the sky, like a monster sent from Mount Olympus. From the sight of it, Shepard knew anything that brought death with it is anything but holy, noticing a large burnt crater from its previous descent from its landing.

After losing sight in the sky the trio continued on to see the space dock down the hill past a shed, about a good two hundred and fifty yards to Shepard's calculations. Shepard augmented his HUD for a better view, observing at least fifteen geth patrolling around the dock. Shepard decided to exchange his Avenger to his Alliance standard shotgun.

"Here's the plan, guys. With plenty of cover, it'll be hard for me take sniping position considering the minute I fire, I'm exposed to hell. With that in mind the cover works both ways. There's plenty of earth cover and past the shed, the packaging crates scattered and packed in the space dock's area, can be easily used to duck-and-shoot the enemy. By the way," the Commander turned his head over his shoulder to see both soldiers under his command in the eyes before continuing, "I couldn't help but notice several more 'dragon's teeth' assorted down hill and alongside the perimeter of the dock. Don't hesitate when they come at you. They're already dead, they're just spare parts to these machines. Understand?"

"Don't worry about us, Commander," Williams said with rage underneath the tone in her voice, "we're going to kill those husks and those metal monsters pay for what they did to my men!"

"Same here, Commander. All the way, no matter what," Alenko said in confirmation after taking quick stock of Williams blood-boiling condition.

Satisfied with their commitment to the mission Shepard urged them to follow quietly. The three descended rather quickly, meeting no apparent opposition. As they past a shack, Shepard noticed they were almost within ample shooting range. Shepard tapped his left shoulder signifying for Alenko to come up beside him. In hushed tones, Shepard told Alenko his plan of attack, and was answered with nod of acknowledgement, rushed ahead to a pile of crates not more than twenty yards from an assortment of dragon's teeth and patrolling geth nearby. Without notice, Alenko threw a few disc-shaped RC high explosives onto the nearby pike tripods, perfectly skimming the air with minimal effort or sound and lightly attaching its magnetic surface to the tripod bodies. Then Shepard held up a fist halting himself and Williams before pointing his fist to two fingers to an elevated cover spot by a stack of crates behind Alenko. Then the Commander rolled deftly on the ground in a somersault before throwing one of his own RC explosives to the remaining dragon's teeth also being patrolled by a handful of Geth troopers. Alenko waited for a few seconds then when the Geth patrol crossed paths, he hit the detonator. Following up with Alenko's countdown, their combined blasts sent a resounding crackling-boom sound with red-and-orange blame blasting apart the tripod sheaths, collapsing the pikes and victims with it, along with nine Geth troopers making only momentarily screeching sounds before their bodies were either liquefied, torn to pieces, or crushed by the falling pikes from above. At that moment, the other six Geth troopers rushed to the battlefield, guns firing sporadically at what they guessed their enemy was located. Shepard then forcefully activated his synaptic adrenaline glands to move at optimum capacities, storming across the wreckage at mind-blowing speeds while his teammates gave him cover fire. Williams began picking off one Geth then the other, disabling their shields following up with a couple hailing rounds through the optics or the chest, resulting in screams and dying whirs. Alenko managed to lift one of the Geth before hurtling it at another, crushing each other's fragile metallic bodies in a 'bloody' coolant metallic mess. While this was occurring, Shepard managed to smash his shotgun in the optics, knocking it down before blasting its damaged 'head'. The N7 trained Commander then quickly emptied the shotgun in a clock worked manner, blasting one Geth torso after the other, splaying their machine innards upon the tiled ground of the space dock. After their violent, but brief skirmish they finished off a couple other Geth that happened to be on the opposite side of the hill they climbed down, unfortunately for them.

Shepard took stock and observed the area. The space dock was average enough, beside the ample body count of Geth and husks, even a light fall of ash was falling to the ground like snowflakes. Then there was an all too familiar looking body lying on the ground in the middle of the dock.

"Look, it's Nihlus," the Field Lieutenant pointed out, confirming what Shepard feared it was. The three of them cautiously approached the limp body of the Spectre agent, a gunshot wound smoking from his back. Shepard took time to examine it. With a gasp, Shepard feared the worst. Geth didn't kill him! There has to be an agent or cohort with them to sneak up on a Spectre, the N7 trained Commander speculating over the possible odds of that happening, which were slim. Shepard knew that an experienced Spectre wouldn't let an assassin get this close for a kill and it was the size of a sidearm. As Shepard mewled over these thoughts he heard a rustling behind the crates. In a swift motion, all three primed their weapons for the stack of crates in front of Nihlus' body.

"Come out! We know you're here," Shepard demanded not in the mood to be jerked around. Suddenly a man with a ski cap and colonial attire nervously raised his hands above his head as he exposed himself. He shouted,

"Don't shoot! I'm unharmed, just a dock worker!" Shepard looked over him, seeing no actual threat that he could present to his team, he lowered his weapon with his team following suite.

"Startling armed marines is a good way to get yourself killed," Shepard chided, with a serious tone.

The man just nodded then gazed at him questioning, "You came with him, the dead Turian, and not the other one?"

"What a minute, what other Turian? You mean you saw another one," was the baffled question the Lieutenant had for the dock worker. As twitchy as the man seemed, Shepard confirmed he was telling the truth. When he examined the wound, it was definitely a top-of-the-line custom-made sidearm. But he wanted to continue the conversation in case he knew anything else; he had to know how the 'other' Turian did it.

"You mean it wasn't Geth," feigning disbelief as he inspected Nihlus' sidearm, bold letters of a Spectre gear. Hearing rumors from people who unfortunately handled their weapons without proper biometric access, would get a nasty shock. Shepard scanned the weapon inside and out to check his theory as the man continued his tale.

"I was just minding my own business by these crates, when the attack happened. I took cover and waited for those robots to finish up and leave. Then I saw him," the other man shivered nervously remembering the terrible sight.

"The other Turian," Williams filling in the blank that the dock worker left hanging. Knocked out of his stupor the dock worker nodded his head, "Yes! But he looked different than most Turians. Other than the three head spines instead of one Turians usually stick out of their heads, his suit seemed to be connected to his body. Tubes and wires linking in and out of exposed parts of his scales and I thought I saw one arm was synthetic…"

"We don't need to know where his beauty spot is, tell us what happened," the woman asked, patience coming to an end.

The man nodded his before continuing, "Right, right, sorry. Anyways, your Turian buddy showed up after popping behind one of those crates. I heard them talking to each other, I think they knew each other. Your buddy called the other one I think 'Saren'. After a minute your buddy relaxed, letting his guard down. Then your buddy got shot right in the back, by the other guy. In cold blood. Poor sap didn't stand a chance," the man dipped his head in genuine remorse for the fallen Turian.

Confirms my theory, the other one was a friend. After his Omni-tool confirmed its scan, it beeped in confirmation in a direct match with the round, clip, and last of all the weapon. 'That would explain the non-Geth weapon fired a little while ago, and why the wound is fresh,' Shepard guessed as he stood up from analyzing the body.

Suddenly the Lieutenant waved his hand in the air to halt the man's reminiscing, "Hold on wait a minute. Why were you behind the crates in the first place?"

The man suddenly looked very guilty as rubbed his hands together, "I-I get a l-little tired and sometimes I grab a hundred winks where the bosses can't find me. I guess it was luck really that I survived at all."

Williams then snarled venomously at the man before shouting, "So because you were lazy you lived because you hid like a coward? You make me sick!"

The man's face turned to a mix of desperation and indignation as he defended himself, "What was I supposed to do? I'm just a dock worker, lady! I'm not even armed for pete's sake!" Shepard heard a hint of deception at the end of the sentence but decided not to press for sake of time.

"You were lucky that you were in the right place at the right time. Otherwise you'd be dead and we'd never known what happened," Shepard said half-heartedly to not make the man feel worse than he already was. As the man muttered in a semi-agreement Shepard then asked, pressed for time once again,

"Did you see where they took the beacon? The Geth and the Turian?" The man pointed his head to Shepard's left before answering, "Take the train over there, it leads to the rest of the loading docks, you'll probably find them and more Geth waiting for you. I-I can't take this," the man walking slowly away in a traumatic tone adding to the morbid atmosphere of the snowfall of ash speckling over the dock, "I need to get away from this place."

Shepard decided to leave him be, as he rounded up his squad to scrounge some supplies from the fallen enemy before heading to the train. After procuring some of the thermal clips and some explosives from falling comrades, even scanning the Geth's remains and weapons for Alliance R&D department. After activating the train's propulsion systems, the train picked up speed, and hurried to its destination with haste.

Not far away the same enemy Turian, Saren, was instructing a white dyed armored Geth trooper, which in effect, was instructing the whole armed unit that was left, with final instructions, "This place is to be purged of any evidence we were here. Leave nothing untouched!" With that the Geth curiously observed the Turian commanding him and the rest of his cohorts walk up to the alleged Prothean beacon. There was a vibrant green glow before the organic was levitated in the air, unknown for the exact purposes of doing so to the synthetic. Ignoring the bizarre display, a few whirs and clicks later and all Geth were notified of their instructions, and began work to demolish the colony's port.

After setting the last demolition charge, the synthetic commando adjusted its optic lens to see a speeding train heading to dock. Suddenly, the optic picked up the gleam of a Striker class sniper rifle firing. Then the optics were shattered before the synthetic could call up shields but not before sending one simple message to its cohorts, '_Intruders_!'

"Bull's eye!" The N7 marksman hollered with joy of another clean kill.

His two companions gave a couple compliments like, "Nice one, Commander!" or "Alright, Commander." As the train stopped, the three saw what was causing the Geth to not give them its full attention ; a military grade demo charge. N7 experience told the estimated damage could take out this whole track alone. 'Thankfully, these type of charges are easy to defuse with a few seconds of patience,' Shepard professionally considered. With not more than a few seconds' hesitation, the N7 trained Commander proceeded to the demolition device and began to disassemble it piece by piece. After removed the exterior covering over the input code keys, Shepard steadily used his Omni-tool to shut off one system at a time: the trigger matrixes, the coolant intakes (to prevent from tripping the device with abnormal heat), then finally the firing mechanism itself removing with careful ease till at least thirty centimeters away before tossing it aside.

With a sigh of relief, Shepard turned with an ok sign with his right hand to his now relieved teammates, "Easy stuff compared to what they taught us at demolition squad class in commando training."

Williams laughed slightly nervous at hearing that, "I can't imagine anything that would take you longer to defuse. That was twenty one seconds exactly, Shep…"

"Hold on," the Field Lieutenant held a hand up while observing his Omni-tool , his voice carrying a serious edge to it.

Professional grasp was back in Shepard's mind as he asked with an equally serious tone, "How many else are there, Lieutenant?" Lieutenant Alenko began counting silently before momentarily saying,

"Five bombs in total, Commander." Shepard nodded, understanding the total effect of the five military grade demo charges would be enough to destabilize the colony, possibly set a chain reaction down the superstructure and kill any survivors, however unlikely that may have been. Gritting his teeth, he checked his Avenger before beckoning the two Alliance cohorts to come with him.

As the three traveled up the stairs, Alenko shouted to Shepard, "Motion detectors show multiple hostiles around and across the bridge! We'll cover you while you get on the first bomb."

The Commander acknowledged the Lieutenant's plan before getting to the top of the stairs and getting to work on the bomb. Meanwhile, the Lieutenant launched a few biotic attacks, throwing them off the walkway of the bridge down to splatter into many pieces on the railway. Williams unlatched her own sniper rifle and began to pick off one of the Geth armed with a rocket launcher. The Geth heavy went down in a mechanical whine with a large hole in its neck, the body hit the pavement limply leaking pale coolant fluids before accidentally firing its rocket at two cohorts, blasting them to pieces. Williams gave a holler of victory as she firing another shot producing a killing blow before discharging the thermal clip. The two kept in tandem of keeping Shepard covered while covering each other from critical strikes, evading sniper beams or explosives rounds that made it to their cover. As the Commander finished defusing one bomb, he noticed a collective timer and shouted to his team, "Push through! We only have three minutes!"

The team acknowledged him, exchanging their weapons for their individual assault rifles as they began laying suppressing fire for Shepard to cross the bridge. Shepard managed to storm over the bridge within three seconds, Avenger in hand, firing off a few rounds amongst two startled Geth troopers to his right, both falling down screaming their metallic whines from blaring holes in their torsos. The Commander started on the first bomb, ignoring the Geth mere yards away taking a pummeling from his advancing team. All the bombs seemed to be simple enough, and Commander Shepard ventured a guess to as why they are simply made. The Geth seemed to be in a hurry and they were in there last steps in detonating the main station of commerce for the colony as his team arrived. 'Probably thought with amount of time for detonation, they didn't need to worry about opposition,' the Alliance Commander concluded. After Shepard defused the first of the five bombs, he realized he had two and a half minutes. Speeding across the kill zone with only minor damage to his barriers, Shepard immediately started on the next bomb with more expediency. With his team at either side of the entrance to the end of the dock, using its structure for cover, they counter-fired back at the enemy as they kept the remaining Geth at bay. After Shepard finished the second one, he sprinted the third one, not wasting the little time he has left. Williams dished out an explosive grenade before chucking it at a large charging Geth. The moment it impacted its surface, the proximity alerts detonated it, utterly demolishing it ignoring any shields it might've had, shrapnel raining at retreating Geth troopers. Alenko checked the Commander's progress to notice he was already on the fourth one, removing the exterior panel like clockwork. When Williams shouted him to watch out, Alenko immediately channeled his eezo nodules inside him to channel dark energy to the surface, and with some effort sent a biotic blast that threw four Geth troopers at once off the edge of the catwalks they were on. Admiring his own handiwork, Alenko smiled as he raised his Predator class pistol to the last lone Geth who helplessly got pummeled by the onslaught of mass accelerated rounds from both pissed off Alliance soldiers. When they observed the threat was over, the two companions raised thumbs up to each other before double timing it back to the Commander who was finishing up the last bomb.

Suddenly, they saw the Commander remove the firing mechanism from the last bomb, then throwing to the ground like sportsman who's won a tournament, hooping and hollering with joy. They laughed out loud, strained from the amount of energy they expelled against the Geth to cover their superior officer.

After that they left to the cat walks through the archway to see from their view the Prothean beacon, unharmed and activated. When the three approached it, Shepard began radioing the Normandy for pick-up.

"Unreal," the Lieutenant began to say, gazing at the glowing alien artifact, "thousands of years later and it looks perfectly active."

With that comment, Williams scrunched up her nose in confusion before replying, "It wasn't doing that before." Alenko left Williams by the artifact to join up with the Commander.

"Right, understood. Meet us at the loading docks for pick-up. Commander Shepard out," Shepard concluded the message before the Lieutenant walked casually over to the Commander.

"What's the ETA on the Normandy?"

"They said they'll be here under half an hour. They'll be entering atmosphere and round us up once things here…" Shepard paused in mid-sentence when he heard a loud hum and a pulsing wave of energy was pulling Ashley in. John instinctively ran over to the colonial marine, hurling himself upon her body. Using the adrenaline he forced into his body, the Commander threw his new subordinate clear of the grappling energy. As Ashley collapsed on the concrete a good few yards away, Alenko rushed to examine her condition. Then both looked up to see their Commander being pulled by the invisible field toward the artifact before suspending him in mid air, his arms and legs spread out.

"Commander!" Williams shouted in alarm, seeing him dangling so helpless by the unknown power inside the beacon. Alenko grabbed her arms pulling her back to the ground to resist her attempts at freeing the Commander.

"It's too late!" He said with grim urgency, as they watched Shepard's body spasm abnormally.

All Shepard knew was that he was in pain, worse than any gunshot or shockwave that rang his body. His head spiked with impossibly uncontrolled images which he couldn't understand: flesh being grinded by pistons, planets darkening, mouths screaming in pain from tearing flesh oozing off their unseen faces, petrified bodies hung in a twilight bright red light, pleas of agony and despair, darkness enveloping everything…

Suddenly, the artifact detonated, fragments flying in all directions except Shepard and his companions. Shepard began losing consciousness, not being able to withstand the brutal assault on his mind from the alien technology. Darkness crept over his vision slowly, already feeling his body numb the alien invasion of his consciousness. The last thing he John saw was Ashley detaching her helmet from her hard-suit, showing a pair of beautiful eyes on a concerned face, shaking his unresponsive body to wake up. Alas for her, Shepard's vision had gone out, but not before curling his lips in a momentary smirk before passing out. 'Had to do something stupid, didn't I?' Shepard chided himself before the darkness completely overtook his mind.

"Commander! Shepard dang it, wake up!" Ashley Williams shook the limp body of the fearless leader that led her out of impossible odds. Before falling to bitterness, she felt a comforting hand grip her shoulder. Kaidan Alenko gave a comforting smile before going to one side of the Commander and hauling one side of his body over one shoulder with Ashley on the other.

"There's the Normandy," Kaidan said as the beautifully built frigate glided into view, with precision and ease berthing in front of the platform of the dock, extending the cargo bay's ramp, followed by a few marines and the ship's doctor, Dr. Chakwas, with a stretched, anticipating some sort of casualty. The Captain was even among them, clad in his uniform, wide-eyed from the sight of his new XO's body being hauled towards him. Within moments, Shepard's inert body was strapped to the stretcher and was hurried to elevator to the medical bay. With the Lieutenant in tow of the Captain following the others inside the Normandy, Ashley desperately rushed into the ship, bitterly thinking how everything has gone so wrong.

"And it's all my fault," she bitterly echoed her feelings rushing to Shepard's side, gripping his hand absentmindedly, knowing that it was the only thing she could do.

Far away, in the bowels of the dark monstrosity that hours before ravaged the surface of Eden Prime, the Turian killer, Saren, lounged impatiently strumming his talons across his face. His bright blue eyes bore of determination and nostalgia of all he's accomplished. Acquiring the beacon's knowledge, was key in his grand scheme for the ultimate plan to be completed. After he hears the report of Eden Prime's space port's destruction, and the destabilizing effect it would have on the colony as a whole would leave them worried with rebuilding and no evidence of their presence.

Suddenly the Turian twitched his mandibles expectedly, as he heard the deliberately regal steps of his ally approaching from behind.

Clearing her throat, she began her report of the mission, "The colony Eden Prime was prevented from destruction, by the Alliance. According to the reports, a frigate deemed, the Normandy, was their making reports to the Council about the attack. The casualty report to the colony was minimal."

"And the beacon?" the Turian asked with uncertainty, with a hint of fear. 'Maybe the Geth destroyed it before they got their hands on it?' the Turian thought hopefully. Of course he knew he never left such instructions considering the blast would've taken care of artifact like planned.

"Unfortunately," the female said, with a grave tone, "a human managed to use it." Rage began to fill his body, knowing his mission was a failure. The ship reacted with his emotions, lights blaring around the room echoing his feelings. Saren began smashing tables, threw weapons from weapon racks, which his advisor deftly avoided. With a roar, the Turian threatened the regal clothed woman, placing both powerful talons along her crowned head of black silk. After no response of terror or dispute from the messenger, Saren calmed himself down, lowering his hands back to his sides before darkly ordering her,

"This human, must be eliminated!"

The woman gave an emotionless expression as she answered with a compliant tone, "As you wish, Saren."

A/N- Hey guys, pretty exciting stuff or what? Whew! This was a really long chapter, and I guarantee there'll be a whole lot more to come. I'll try to balance out the chapters from this long to shorter ones. Since this is my first try at fanfics I will try to point out a few things that might irk some people.

Yes, I called Ash, 'Williams' half the time, but I wasn't really get into her real personality until later. She was just a soldier that just wanted payback against the enemy, and Shepard had no problem with it. For all he knew, this would be their only mission together. So Williams was the professional courteous name that Shepard thought of using. Over time as they get less formal, he will start calling her 'Ash' instead of 'Chief' or 'Williams'. I also forgot to add her rank of Gunnery Chief, so just to save time rewriting everything, I plan that will be her "promotion transfer" when she is brought on the Normandy next time.

Any opinions, reviews, and comments on my story is appreciated and thank you for those keeping in touch with the story that I am enjoying SO MUCH writing not only for myself but for you as well!

Very soon, we will continue the story of Shepard being brought back into the world of consciousness and his debrief with the crew as they prepare to dock at the Citadel! See you guys later!


	5. Chapter 4 Visions?

Chapter three-Visions?

Shepard felt a difference then when he blacked out, other than the fact the nightmarish images have halted their assault. He felt decently comfortable bed, Alliance reg perhaps. He began to crack his lids open, letting bright artificial light flood his eyes giving him another headache. As he lifted his arm to rub his eyes, he let out a groan as the headache still kept at it. When he heard two pairs of footsteps, he urged his body to present himself as professionally as he could raising his body and opening his eyes to clear up his vision. Eventually he saw clearly, both Dr. Chakwas whom he met with Jenkins earlier, and Ashley Williams who assisted them down below in her blue Alliance navy reg uniform, her hair was back in a bun which was attractive in Shepard's eyes.

Dr. Chakwas was the first to speak, after Shepard let out another groan, rubbing his temples with both hands while sitting hunched over on the bed, "It's good to see you're awake, how are you feeling?"

Shepard answered with blunt honesty after giving up massaging the pain away, "Like being wasted after three nights of shore leave. How long have I been out?"

The doctor, who bore a spirited young look for one at her age gave a concerned look after examining him visually, "Several days. You gave us quite a scare, but one could expect from taking such a risk. Who knows what that artifact could've done to your mind."

Ashley Williams took a firm step forward, looking Shepard in the eyes with sorrow written on hers, "I'm sorry, Commander. It was all my fault, I shouldn't have put you in danger like that." She turned her head slightly to not see her perceived look of anger on Shepard's face for her failure. Instead all she heard was an instant reply the moment she turned her head.

"There was no way you could've known," Shepard said in a pained but sincere voice. For some reason, this brought a smile of relief to Ashley's face.

The doctor continued her elaboration of what happened, "We're not sure if that's even what caused it. Thankfully you don't seemed any worse for wear."

"How did I get here?" Shepard asked curious as how they got him in the medical bay.

"After you collapsed, the Lieutenant and I hauled you aboard onto a stretcher, where the doc took here ASAP, sir." Shepard gave a smile of his own, nodding in a approval, biting back another wave of pain.

"I appreciate that," Shepard said, which actually issued another smile from the Williams woman, except to Shepard's trained eye, he caught a faint blush. 'She's embarrassed? Until now I thought of her as hardcore, but I guess she has her own insecurities about failing too,' Shepard concluded as the doctor began dishing out scans of some sort and continued her medical debriefing.

"Physically your fine. But I detected some highly unusual brain wave activity over the past few days," Shepard decided to get up and ready to report for debriefing of his own to the Captain as soon as the doctor was finished, "I also detected some rapid eye movement. Usually that indicates very vivid dreams."

Shepard tried to grasp his memories and saw one thing at a time, blurred in motion he couldn't comprehend.

"I saw," he heard whispers in the back of his mind of unknown tongue to him as he tried to tell what he saw, "death, destruction, nothing was really clear."

The highly trained doctor put a hand under her chin as she tried to figure by what he meant. "Yes, I see. Oh, Captain Anderson," Chakwas said formally with respect as the grizzled navy Captain stopped with his hands behind his back in a relaxed position. He gave the doctor his full attention as he asked with interest,

"Doctor Chakwas, how is our XO holding up?"

Deciding to speak on his own behalf, Shepard stood at attention, relieved that the pain has finally died down, "Ready for duty, whenever the doctor releases me."

"That's fine, Commander. Good to see you among the land of the living." Anderson then looked from Ashley Williams to the doctor, and then back to Shepard.

"Shepard I would like to talk to you, in private." With that, Williams gave a salute to the Captain after a brief, "Aye, aye," and exited the medical station with the doctor.

The Captain then asked his XO with a look of concern, "So, how're doing, Commander. Heard you had quite a fight down there." The thoughts came flooding back in Shepard's mind. Their debriefing, Alenko's outburst at the weird aliens, Jenkins' death, Ashley Williams' joining, the Geth, the strange gun shot and the eyewitness about a Turian named Saren, the beacon. Shepard immediately decided to lay blame to only ones who he thought were responsible.

"Intel dropped the ball on us, sir. We had no idea what we were up against; that's why the mission went to hell!" the Commander shouted at the Captain with a little more force than he meant to.

The Captain however maintained a calm understanding attitude while explaining, "No Geth have been seen outside the veil in over three hundred years. There was no reason to expect them to suddenly invade an Alliance colony." Shepard immediately felt a little ashamed about his temper, something he always had trouble since childhood. He managed to control it to a fair degree after boot camp, but it wasn't fair that the Captain would get the brunt of a mission he was in charge of as well.

Shepard gave a mournful look towards the Captain. "I'm sorry about that, Captain. I-I just don't like losing men on my watch." The Captain managed to give him an understanding look before responding.

"Jenkins' body was recovered and we'll give a proper memorial for his service here along with all the other marines who fought and died defending the colony." At the mention of marines, Ashley Williams' name came to John's mind and he suddenly noticed the different posture she showed the Captain earlier. Like one of authority directly over her, instead of one out of respect for being in the Alliance.

Shepard decided to voice his curiosity, "Is Ashley Williams a part of the Normandy crew, sir?"

With a nod with his head, Anderson replied thoughtfully, "I'd thought, 'Gunnery Chief' Williams would make a fine addition to our crew. She already proved herself capable more than enough on Eden Prime."

With a smile he responded enthusiastically, "Williams is a good soldier. I'm glad she's aboard."

With a smirk of knowing, Anderson said, "Good, because Alenko vouched for her. I take his word, and yours. You all done now?" Shepard then straightened up, knowing it was the Captain's request for a private debriefing, so he better hear all the facts from him.

"You wanted to speak with me, sir?" Anderson began to pace from one end of the medical bay to the other before staring Shepard in the eyes, cautiously observing.

"I've read your team's report. About the Geth's involvement in trying to acquire the beacon, and their intent of destroying the colony's spaceport. But that's not what I came to talk to about. It's about Nihlus' death. The eyewitness said Nihlus called his attacker by name, the Turian, Saren." Shepard saw his superior's shoulders tense, at the word of Saren exiting his mouth. Shepard putting two and two together, decided to finish Anderson's declaration.

The XO crossed his arms as he gave a suspicious glance to his Captain, "Why is a Spectre shooting a Spectre in the back?" Captain Anderson whirled around in sudden movement, with confusion across his weathered features. The Commander shrugged as he continued to explain, "I heard a shot, made by a non-synthetic, logged its sound into my hard-suit's audio banks. When I examined Nihlus' corpse, I noticed the damage done to his armor would've taken a high-grade weapon, probably with modified railing and kinetic buffering to reduce heat build-up. I managed to scan the slug inside the corpse via the point of entry, and found that it was modded for armor by-pass, considering his barriers wouldn't have been able to withstand a close ranged shot of a high caliber. The mod is illegal in Council space unless you have direct access to specific mods and highly modified weapons," Shepard then relaxed his arms to his sides, using them to equip and activate his Omni-tool for its readings before continuing, "last of all I decided to test my theory without activating the fail-safe on Nihlus' weapon. I did a thorough scan of the ammo type, did the necessary mods by calculation, and measured the clip size in a diagram simulation. The fire arm is a HMWP; a Spectre's choice of a highly modified sidearm for assassination and close quarters."

The Captain came forward with anticipation to examine the information. With excitement ebbing into his voice he said to his XO, "Shepard, do you know what this means. These are hard facts that we can show to the Council for evidence. Only they have the power to revoke his status as a Council agent and handle him. I've got to say, you're quite an expert for investigations."

Shepard gave him half a smile before stating matter-of-factly, "I was usually put in charge of battle aftermath analysis, or crime scenes when our unit was called to take down criminals who've invaded Alliance space. As a commando, I've been gifted with even more enhancements then my enlistment. I'm able to see, hear, smell, react, and think faster than the average Alliance soldier."

With a accepting smile of appreciation, Anderson clasped Shepard's shoulders with thankfulness. "I'm glad you're with us then," Anderson then furrowed his brow after resuming normal posture in a queried manner.

"I also wanted to know what you experienced from the beacon. Was there any helpful info, anything at all?" Shepard then sat back on one of the beds of the medical bay, contemplating on what he saw.

Hesitantly Shepard responded, "I saw…a-a vision."

The veteran Alliance officer paced before the Commander before repeating his answer with a question behind it.

"A vision?"

"Yes. I'm not sure what I saw, but it seemed to be showing organics being butchered, slaughtered by synthetics, then I saw something called 'Reapers'. They're responsible for…genocide of species. I…I can't make out anything else. Everything is too blurry to make out," Shepard began to rub his eyes, remembering the speed he saw for what seemed like eternity of horrifying images of death, butchering, screams, darkening suns. The Captain seemed to take him seriously, even considering the circumstances of how he obtained this information.

"We have to tell the Council about this!"

"Hmph! What are we supposed to say? That I had bad dream? Ha," Shepard scoffed, not wanting to believe this information was real or the fact that he suddenly went from soldier to fortune teller. He found the idea comically dry.

"We have to let them know what Saren's motives are. Maybe he's trying to locate these 'Reapers' for his nefarious scheme. Anyway," The Captain relaxed his posture before concluding, "We won't need to bring it up unless necessary. We should be near the Mass Relay to the Citadel. Get ready, grab something to eat at the cafeteria then meet us up at the CIC." With a solid salute, and one returned by the Commander, Captain Anderson turned a 180 swiftly, military style, before walking out the medical bay.

After Shepard got suited up in his N7 standard armor, he made a quick run-by at the cafeteria, grabbing a tray with some military packaged food before looking around the empty tables for someplace to sit down and scarf down his food so he could get up to the CIC. Shepard then noticed the last table at the far end was the new Gunnery Chief, sitting alone seeming to mull over some thoughts. She was wearing the white and scarlet armor he saw her sporting on Eden Prime, though her helmet was off showing how she was sullen, mulling over thoughts of what happened. Shepard felt bad, understanding how it was when he lost his entire unit at Elysium and the casualties of the defending force there.

Shepard walked over to her table, situating himself across the table from her, and began scarfing the military food down his mouth into his body. Ashley was startled by the ravenous hunger her now superior officer had. But she couldn't blame a man who was comatose for three days without real food. He suddenly said after finishing most of his meal, catching her staring at him causing her tense, "So, how've you been holding up?"

Ashley shifted in her seat a bit nervously, "Officially or unofficially, Commander?"

Shepard looked up from his now finished plate, wiping his mouth briefly with the back of his hand before answering her, "Chief, as long as you serve aboard this vessel, feel free to speak freely and openly to me. I always found protocol to be a little, constricting when trying to get to know the crew."

Ashley breathed a sigh of relief, now knowing the Commander was a understanding and easygoing guy, she answered him honestly, "Still trying to get over what happened on Eden Prime. Losing men is part of the military life, but you never get over seeing dead civilians."

"We all did our part, Chief. Things probably could've been a lot worse if we haven't shown up when we did. I wish there was more I could've done though," Shepard said mentally battering himself for Jenkins death. 'He was a good kid. Full of hope, potential, and a future. I guess the kind of lives we live these days,' Shepard thought morbidly while Ashley herself was observing his newly morose attitude.

She then said apologetically, "Yeah, I heard about Jenkins. Bad way to go, on his first mission and all."

Shepard sat straight before speaking with conviction, "Jenkins was a fine soldier. He will be missed."

"Sounds like a guy I would want to meet. Over the few days you were…uh, out cold, I took the liberty of looking over your record of service," Ashley said getting a curious arched brow from Shepard as she continued, "it's quite impressive. Enlisted right out of the age of 16, then getting exceptional scores in the academy at Earth. Eventually graduated with honors, earning you the training from the N7 program. Got transferred to an eventual famous commando unit, becoming second-in-command of it in the process. The battle of Elysium where you were the only survivor of your unit and managed to hold off against the pirate forces until help arrived. After that, your missions were cryptic or too classified to access."

Shepard breathed in and out, feeling a little nostalgic at his past history being mentioned. The missions he went on after his unit was destroyed, he was put in charge of a small squad of his own commandos and went to do above and beyond the call of duty for the Alliance. He remembered the fond times he had within the N7 regiment and his own unit. The comrades he made, the bonds that were tied, the love that never happened, all was taken from him, just like his home. Shepard felt like the universe was personally toying with him, giving him everything he could want, goals to aspire to, then taking things that mattered to him most right out of his hands. Shepard clenched his hands involuntarily trying to shut out the pain. He hoped one day, things would be different and he would be able to finally find what he was looking for.

Ashley eyes probed the Commander's expression, trying to find out if it was something she said. So she decided to ask.

"Commander," she said, knocking out of his nostalgic state, getting his full attention, "is it too personal to talk about. Tell me if I overstepped my bounds or something."

Shepard smiled sadly at her, before raising his head up to the blandly colored ceiling and artificial lights, rubbing his eyes with one hand down to the bridge of his nose. He then returned his gaze back at Ashley, one of apology and remorse.

"It's not that, Williams…"

"Ashley, not Williams," the Gunnery Chief said with command in her voice, knocking Shepard's melancholy mood a little off, "at least not while we're off-duty, Commander."

"Likewise," the Commander smiled to the young woman across from him, "Shepard, when we're off-duty. About my past, I'm tired right now and we're about to berth at the Citadel, maybe as we work together I'll tell you about it. Just ask when we get down time. Deal?" Shepard then outstretched his hand across the table for a shake.

Ashley smiled, and took her Commander's hand in acknowledgement to his offer with honest enthusiasm.

"_We're coming out of the relay soon. ETA, five minutes,"_ Joker announced over the intercom, instantly getting the attention of the two people at the café table. Both looked at each other and bolted from the table in a sprint to the stairs to the deck above. As soon as the door chimed its opening sequence, the two stride casually into the deck, briefly acknowledged by the guard by the door. The two made their way to the bridge after a nod to Presley, Joker was sounding off the countdown for exit of the Relay.

"…and we're out in five, four, three, two, one…exiting Relay," Joker said as the frigate decelerated from its speed back to normal, the streaks of stars and blue aura of Relay travel dissipated, leaving only a vast violet colored nebula next to the Relay. Beyond it, lay the heart of all galactic stability, the Citadel. One could describe the Citadel but do it no justice for its architecture is the stuff of legends. Its shape is that of a massive 'flower' structure, its four inner metallic arms were extended during times of peace but if ever sealed, the station mega-complex would become nigh-invulnerable from attack.

As the Normandy made its approach, Kaidan sat up from his seat in the copilot chair to get a better view with Ashley and Shepard, already gawking at the sheer magnificence of the super station. Ashley even whistled with awe as the Normandy passed the head of the Citadel fleet, the Ascension. An Asari dreadnaught, the ship was the largest ship in the fleet, outclassing any dreadnaught the Alliance had. It had a great oval shape in the middle, exposing a very large main gun in the middle of the cross shaped ship. Flanking the Ascension were various dreadnaughts, cruisers, frigates and other support craft all joined together before sweeping the perimeter of the Citadel's space. Joker grumbled something like, 'Size isn't everything,' as he began to take great pride in driving 'his' ship to berth onto the metropolis station. After the ship's VI alerted crew for boarding procedures, Joker swiftly entered the docking codes and was soon directed to the dock reserved for the Alliance. After passing through an energy field of sorts, the Normandy slowed to a crawl before gliding into place, magnetic clamps locking it 'ashore'.

"Aaaaaaaand, we're good! Alright! First time berthing the baby, after her first flight. Pretty cool don't you think guys? Guys?" John, Ashley, and Kaidan were approached by the Captain, exchanging salutes before exiting into the airlock. Shepard however during the airlock procedure was repressing a snicker of Joker's desperate cry of attention was going unheard.

"Great! First time I dock this awesome girl, no one bothers to thank me," Joker grumbled as he relaxed into the pilot chair before getting shut eye.

"This is an outrage! If this was Turian colony, you would've have reprimanded him outright. I demand this Council it delivers justice!" The middle-aged ambassador Udina of the Alliance, shouted with contempt and fury. As soon as the Captain and the others reached the Presidium, through a illogically set of slow elevators, they went to the Alliance's embassy to get a meeting set up with the Council via the said ambassador who was fuming about the Council's resolve. Although Shepard never thought too much about politics, he did understand all the political crap that he had to take for requesting an audience not just the Captain but with three of his crew. Not many are given such privileges in Council space.

The orange-tinted hologram to the ambassador was a regal Turian who, with even Shepard's little interaction with the species personally could see, was irritated as he gave his own rebuff, "You don't get to make demands of the Council," he said crossing his arms, an act considered as unmoving to the ambassador's cries. The Councilor on the right, the amphibious fast-paced species' rep known as Salarians, gave him a matter-of-fact chiding, "The human colony knew it was on the edge of the Terminus systems, outside of Council space, beyond our jurisdiction. We have no obligation to settle what the Alliance cannot."

Udina snarled at the Salarian, bearing an unattractive visage upon his aged face, "What about Saren," the Alliance ambassador asked with a sense of desperation, "he shot one his own, not to mention he led the attack on Eden Prime. What are you doing about that?" The Asari ambassador projected directly in front of the infuriated human, also dressed regally, had a undeterred gaze set upon her features as she responded calmly, "We're launching an investigation, we will discuss later."

Udina wouldn't have it, throwing his hand to point at the Asari councilor with outrage in his voice, "That's not good enough! Strip him of his Spectre status, immediately!"

The Asari councilor brushed off his demand concluding, "This discussion is over. We have a trial later, and we'll finish discussing this then." With that all three life-sized images of the councilors vanished, the projectors shutting down after its use. An irritated, white-and-grey clothed ambassador turned to the Captain speaking to him,

"Captain Anderson. Did you really have to bring the whole crew?" Shepard was trying to enjoy the beautiful sights of the Presidium ever since they arrived at the ambassador's office. The scenery was filled with lush gardens, clean grey tiled roads, beautiful white buildings, fountains that were sitting inside a lake. Unfortunately, Shepard's temper began to spike as he and his two crew members were mentioned so off-handed by the ambassador. Shepard pushed himself away from the balcony to join the conversation as the Captain was explaining their presence with him.

"Just the ground team on Eden Prime. Their presence will provide testimony for our reports on…"

"I've read the reports, Captain, I assume they are accurate?" The ambassador interrupted, raising an eyebrow at his own question to verify its authenticity. Captain Anderson nodded his head in confirmation, but all he got in response was a scoffing sound from the ambassador,

"Do you realize how many strings I had to pull to get you as well as your crew to see the Council? No one sees the Council without solid evidence, and from what I've seen, its as flimsy as a Volus' testimony."

"Haven't you read the report? Saren is working with the Geth, attacking human colonies, and murdered a Spectre! How much proof do you need," Shepard asked, infuriated at the abruptly rude manner the ambassador treated a war hero like Anderson because he was having a bad day.

Udina just snarled back at the Commander, wanting to put him in his place speaking abruptly,

"Careful, Commander Shepard. You already did enough to risk your candidacy into the Spectres. A Spectre dies, and the beacon is destroyed, all on your watch!"

Anderson stepped forward, glaring at the ambassador with contempt, "It's not his fault that happened. It was Saren's."

"Of course it was. But let's finish this discussion after the trial. Hopefully that hypothesis will be enough to convince the Council of the danger Saren poses to the Alliance. Commander," the ambassador said with no real concern in his voice adding, "If you follow the signs, I'm sure you'll find your way to the elevator to the chambers. I hope you can do one thing, without botching it up." With that said, the ambassador huffed as both the Captain and himself left the office, leaving the three crew members to mull over what has been said.

Ashley though, was just clucking her tongue knowingly getting the other two's attention before speaking out loud, "And that's why I hate politicians."

_In-Story A/N-Okay, as something that always irked me (and probably **EVERY** gamer) is that when I played ME the game, is that every elevator (I mean nearly every single one of them) were so long! Especially en route in the Normandy, to her destination. Its just one floor to the engineering deck! Why can't they put stairs in place? Anyways, this next bit is a little comedy flick I decided to insert into the story and afterwards the story can continue in normalcy. With that said, let me introduce you to, "The nightmare elevator!" LOL!_

After getting lost for a few minutes in grand splendor of the presidium, the trio managed to find the elevator that was labeled 'Council Chambers' with a key-code for use. After typing in the code that was given to them by Captain Anderson, the elevator turned from inaccessible red color to accessible green, doors hissed as the double-sealed doors opened to reveal much more luxuriously styled elevator compared to the repetitive transparisteel elevators that are vastly used by the public. The elevator inside had Asari decorations coloring the floor, with an even higher caliber elevator system, and even Turian turbines. Problem was, it was still as slow as the rest of the elevators.

After fifteen minutes and five floors later, something just occurred to Shepard. "Guys, if we're supposed to be in the 2100's, why are the elevators slower?"

"To listen to more broadcasts and see the Citadel, Commander," Alenko said, but obviously not giving a good point.

Ashley shook her head before chidingly answered, "That solves the 'why' on the Presidium elevator, but what about the lower levels? And every Council and Alliance ship's elevator?" Shepard shook his head before turning around with an annoyed expression. He then answered with a bowed head,

"They are trying to drive us insane," with that, Ashley busted a gut laughing head over heels on the lavish elevator's floor, while Alenko chuckled at the scene she was creating. Shepard lightly began to batter his head on the elevator door, encouraging Ashley's antics, Kaidan rubbing his temples feeling another headache coming on. The noise began to increase in Kaidan's ears, causing his head to throb even more.

"Quiet please," Kaidan began to ask as the two continued their borderline insane behavior. The throbbing got worse, the noise was too much for the Lieutenant to handle.

"Guys?" Kaidan asked again, a little more forceful then before but the two ignored him, appearing as if lost in insanity. With a twitch, Alenko decided to finish their lunacy. The tell-tale dark blue aura enveloped the Lieutenant as he outstretched his hand to the two mentally disturbed teammates, freezing them in place with a forced envelope of dark energy. Ashley's smile from laughter was plastered stiff on a now confused looking pair of eyes shifting around trying to decide what was going on. The Commander was stuck with his head on the elevator's door, with an irritated look on his face. After the headache began to subside, the Lieutenant then released them from the stasis fields before he apologized furtively.

"I'm sorry, Chief. Commander, I'm sorry."

"No you're fine, I'm sorry for my negative conduct, I set a bad example," Shepard said solemnly, rubbing his forehead, lamenting the damage he inflicted upon himself.

A/N (With the Craziness over, back to the story :P )

The Gunnery Chief got up quickly from the floor, and straightened herself before apologizing to the LZ. Alenko waved her off and began to become enthralled by the beauty of the Citadel as they got a bigger view of the station itself.

Leaning on one of the rails on the inside of the transparent elevator, Kaidan gave a low whistle before commenting, "Big place."

"That your professional opinion, LT?" Ashley sarcastically remarked, joining him from the far side of the rail, beckoning the Commander to see the view with them on a spot on the middle. After a few floors, Shepard could see what the Field Lieutenant was talking about. As the elevator continued its slow ascent, he saw the Presidium below as a large lunar arc shape, showing the magnificent lake, with dozens of fountains occupying its surface, producing a rippling effect from above, with the neat and tidy white buildings and sidewalks blending in a perfect work of art. After another floor passed, they saw the bright lights surrounding them of the Citadel's arms, its glowing illumination produced from passing traffic and artificial lights of the populace's markets, real-estate areas, and business vicinity.

"No wonder the Council wants to protect it. We just got here, and they've been in the inter-galactic community for thousands of years," Shepard analyzed, seeing the vast intertwined community go about their many scheduled duties or responsibilities in life.

"If the Council strives for progress and peace, you'd wonder why they'd make us fight for acceptance among them," Kaidan said, voicing the question as rhetorical.

But Ashley answered with grit in her tone, "It's because we're ambitious, uncanny, and different. If you ask me, kissing up to those high-and-mighty aliens up there is just begging for a dignity crisis."

Shepard then turned to face Ashley on his left before responding in a more light-hearted tone, "Why wouldn't they like us. We have beautiful women, varied emotions, this thing called **love**. If I were them, I'd be pretty interested in what humanity had to offer."

"I don't know about that, Shepard, but if you even think about me in a dress, I'm quitting," Chief Williams said with a sense of indignation.

Kaidan leaned over with a smirk on his face speaking to Ashley, "I don't think he was talking about you specifically, Chief."

"Well, um…I, uh thought I should've said, um…something, or other," Ashley stuttered, stunned at her wild assumption that **her** commander would include her in a topic of beautiful women. 'Girl, what you thinking? Why would he come on to you in the first place,' Ashley thought to herself, trying to fight off a blush.

Shepard waved off Kaidan before turning to Ashley, knowing her embarrassing situation he decided to let it slide.

"It's alright, I don't mind being thought of that way. Its flattering. But, Chief," Ashley turned full-faced, only two feet away from his face, giving her ample opportunity to observe his features. His face had nice trimmed beard, with a military crop style hair, all in dark charcoal color. He had a balanced complexion of fair and tan coloration, and had striking blue eyes, one would only see at coral reefs on earth. Pure, clear, and determined, and yet troubled,' Ashley saw as she saw windows that were shaded with the light-heartedness of their predicament. She thought to ask him later if they had a moment.

"I'd think you'd look good in dress or no dress, Ash," The Commander said softly, almost too quiet for her to hear, but managed to hear it through her daze. She stuttered once more, but with pride at the praise **her** commander said.

"Dang, straight, sir!" With that said, she turned back to the scenery, refusing to let Shepard see her smile. Shepard smiled as he leaned on the railing to see their approaching destination. 'She looks sexy when she's angry,' the amused Commander thought to himself, their destination almost within reach, he felt better that the ride was so long, almost regretful. Shepard then thought about that a second before shuddering. 'There's no way I'm going to be sane if my rides are slower than an Elcor's trot,' Shepard thought with trepidation, if he had to ride any elevators longer than the one he was on.

When elevator chimed, the trio sighed from leaving the wondrous scenery for the trial that awaited them. As they walked in, they noticed what looked like cherry trees and parallel placed fountains, near balcony overhangs, where different aliens and humans were discussing political gossip, or trying to find an opening for a Council meeting. The trio marched up the elegant stairs, coming upon landing after landing, every once in awhile seeing crops of trees or a fountain. A Turian and Salarian talking about how humanity might be next to be seated on the Council, a human looking despondent as if he was looking for someone to help him but none answered, a couple Asari talking about the recent Eden Prime incident and mentioning trial that was taking place. The idle chatter and gossip of political figures never was a concern for John, but now as he saw them speaking nonsense and speculating the worse, it made him sick. As the trio walked up another set of stairs they saw a pair of Turians in uniform talking back in forth in what seemed like a heated discussion.

Shepard managed to hear what seemed the end of their conversation,

"…Saren's hiding something, I know it. Buy me more time, stall the Council if you have to," shouted a young Turian in a blue and gray colored C-Sec Agent class armor to a more upper class dressed Turian with dark striped colors down his whole attire.

The superior, to Shepard's best guess, seemed to clap his mandibles to what he believed was a look of unbelief.

"Stall the Council," the Turian superior said to the C-Sec Turian unbelieving, "not a chance. Your investigation is over, Garrus." After the superior Turian turned to leave, Shepard visibly clamped his mandibles against his face in what looked like a snarl, clenching his gloved talons as further evidence.

Noticing he was being watched, the Turian unclenched his mandibles and fists, eyeing over the new arrivals. With a light of knowing in the Turian's eye, the young Turian strode over to greet the three humans.

"Commander Shepard, Garrus Vakarian," the Turian said, with a nod of respect directed to the Commander before continuing, "I'm the C-Sec officer in charge of the case against Saren Arterius."

Shepard nodded his head respectively before glancing to where his superior tromped off to.

"Sounds like it didn't go so well," Shepard guessed, though he probably expected C-Sec not get too far. After all, a Spectre was untouchable, by Jenkins' beliefs.

Nodding confirmation, Garrus crossed his arms before speaking aloud rather than to him, "It's just that he's a D*&N Spectre, everything he touches is classified. There was no way to get hard evidence in time. But I think there's a few leads I can try…" Shepard observe the Turian was different from Nihlus, besides not being a Spectre. The Turian seemed to be a tad shorter than what Nihlus was, about 6'5 instead of 6'7 according to Shepard's estimates. His skin was a light tone of gray with a tan coating over his mouth and down his neck. He had similar tribal paintings on his own face, one violet purple stroke under each eye. This Turian was equipped with a C-Sec issued targeting optic, latched across his left eye to the back of his head, a blue square resting just a few inches from his eye with a targeting reticule in it. His eyes were blue, almost identical to Shepard's with a fire of determination instilled in him.

"We better get moving, Commander. I think the trial's started," Lt. Alenko said, urging the Commander to keep moving.

The Turian nodded with respect before saying, "Good luck, Commander. Hopefully they'll listen to you."

With that said, the three humans passed the Turian before approaching an even higher set of stairs, with Captain Anderson at the bottom of it.

The Captain said in a hurried manner, "Good, you made it. The trial's starting, c'mon!" The squad followed the Captain up the final set of stairs. As soon as they reached the top, what became visible was a podium where Udina was waiting for them, the

Council in person in front of Udina, and a larger-than-life hologram of a Turian unlike Shepard has ever seen.

His three-pronged head spines were arranged from the sides and back of his head. His skin tone was pale, ghostly even. His eyes were strangely glowing and somewhat artificial. 'Implants perhaps?,' Shepard speculated as he continued to observe him. In fact it seemed like most of his suit was wired into his body, and his mandibles hid a slight glow of artificial teeth. 'Man, the kind of horrors has that guy seen must look as bad as he does,' Shepard morbidly mused.

Shepard and Anderson took a stance behind Udina, enough so the Council could see them.

The Asari Councilor spoke first, bowing her head respectfully, "Captain Anderson, Commander Shepard, thank you for coming. Now the hearing can begin." The next of the councilors to speak was the Salarian to the Asari's left, "We asked you to come to this hearing, on the accounts of the charges you have against one of our Spectre agents, Agent Saren."

Suddenly, Saren interrupted the Councilor with a dismissive wave of his colossus effigy hand toward the Captain, Udina, and Shepard, before spouting, "Why are you wasting my time. I refuse to be charged with such outrageous claims! I've done nothing but for the Council for all my life."

"That's bull, Saren! You attacked Eden Prime, and everyone will know it," Anderson said with vehement distaste.

Saren turned his visage towards Captain Anderson before dawning came to his voice, "Aw, Captain Anderson. Every time humanity accuses me of something, you end up as their arbiter." Shepard saw Anderson tense with anger, hearing a near audible growl.

Shepard decided to defend his superior, taking a step further towards the large holo of the Turian Spectre. "Tell me, Saren, are you armed right now?"

The Turian agent narrowed his brow in confusion and clicked his mandibles in surprise. Then he too recognized the human Commander. "Commander Shepard. Taking battles an old man can't, are you. Not much of a substitute for what happened on Eden Prime."

Eyeing him suspiciously, the Commander then raised his eyebrow with mock surprise, "How would a covert mission come to your knowledge?" Playing Shepard's game, the Turian nonchalantly waved his hand.

"I was a fellow agent. When Nihlus passed on, his files were transferred to me," the Turian then glared menacingly with his bright eyes before adding, "I wasn't impressed."

"A matter of opinion, I guess," John shrugged his shoulders, not letting the Turian get to him before he could draw him in. "But that doesn't answer my question, Saren. Are you armed now?"

The Turian Council agent scoffed as he withdrew a HMWP sidearm showing it plain to see for everyone. Saren then clapped his mandibles in bewilderment as Shepard waved an Omni-tool over the artificial image of the weapon. He then inputted his theories before getting a positive result. He then turned to the Council to address them,

"Will the Council direct their attention to these results I got from investigating the murder of Agent Nihlus?" All three members of the Council gave their full undivided attention to him.

Shepard then played his Omni-tool with enlarged displays from his investigations. The Council members looked over the information studiously. The Salarian councilor was the first to speak. "These theories seem plausible. Disturbingly so."

"It would seem Saren is the prime suspect from your speculations, isn't that right, Commander?" The Asari councilor asked with a hint of dread.

"That's correct, madam councilor. If you look at the facts, the gunshot noise was not of Geth typical weapon discharge. The sidearm in question was modded, almost as if planned to take out heavy-graded armor the Spectres are provided with. The scan I made with Saren's weapon confirmed my suspicions that only a Spectre issued weapon could penetrate its armor."

"That and the fact Saren managed to manipulate his status to shoot Nihlus with his back turned, in close quarters," Captain Anderson concluded, a hint of smile on the corners of his mouth feeling victory was close.

"This is outrageous," Saren bellowed with indignation, "Nihlus was fellow Spectre and a friend," Shepard clenched his fists with anger boiling in him. The fact that a Turian managed to get this status and abuse it so callously made Shepard sick.

"That's right!" the Turian councilor said, with equal contempt toward the human accusers, "your theories are maliciously misguided, and your witness is suffering from shock! There is no real evidence here, just accusations." The other councilors nodded their heads in agreement to their fellow councilor's logic.

"A traumatically stressed dock worker **is** hardly called a witness," the Salarian concurred.

"And these are just **assumptions**, based on hunches. As the Council, we need solid evidence before making such a decision. If you have anything else to add, please do so now."

The Captain raised his hands in desperation before saying, "What about the beacon? That was Prothean technology Saren was after, and the visions Shepard had..."

"Ah, yes, visions. How am I supposed to defend myself against such nonsense," Saren exclaimed waving his gloved talon dismissively at the humans while glaring at the Council.

"We're not basing these claims as facts, we just need..."

"You need nothing else to prove his mental state," the Turian councilor said while theatrically pointing at his head for reference sake, "this trial has become a, what humans call it...a farce?" Udina visibly turned beet red with rage as he yelled at the Council, "What is this BULL$%!&? I demand you revoke his status until this case is over!"

"Request denied," all three councilors said in unison, utterly stopping Udina's tirade.

After a long sigh, the Salarian councilor asked, "Is there anything the accusers have left to say,"

Shepard shook his head before bluntly adding, "I would only be wasting my time." With that said, the councilors looked at each other, silently asking each other what the ruling would be. All three alien councilors shook their heads solemnly, queuing in for the Asari councilor to finish.

"This Council finds no solid evidence to convict Spectre agent Saren Arcturius, of killing agent Nihlus, or the involvement in the attack of Eden Prime. This trial is over."

Nihlus then fixed his gaze on Shepard, boiling his rage as he said in a mock tone, "I'm glad that justice was served after all." His colossus image dissipated to nothing, and the Council began to leave the podium. As Captain and Commander left to join the others, Udina was left alone at the podium, feeling utterly useless and defeated. The ambassador clenched his fists before swearing profusely under his breath before he dismissed himself, striding with anger in his steps. By the time Anderson and Shepard joined the other two crewmates, Anderson blatantly threw his hand accusingly at Anderson.

"It was a mistake bringing you in there, Anderson! You had too much history with Saren, and because of that, the Council concluded this was a hate-trial!" In the mood Shepard was in, he didn't feel like letting Anderson take it. Within two strides Shepard was within striking distance before snarled at the ambassador, "It wasn't his fault, got that? That trial was a setup ; it was Saren's backup plan, in case there were survivors or accusers." To Shepard's surprise Anderson raised a hand toward Shepard, silently indicating him to stand down.

"He's right, Commander," Anderson said admittedly. "I've got too much history to be involved in this case. You have to take it from here, Shepard." Shepard was puzzled. He couldn't accept the idea of such a rouge operative ever being with such an upstanding hero like Captain Anderson.

"Something I should know?" Shepard asked, arching his eyebrow with visible curiosity. Captain Anderson shook his head,

"Some other time, Shepard. We've got to focus on gathering evidence against Saren, and that takes priority." Shepard backed away from Udina, and began to pace. 'What other leads were there?' the Commander thought as he began to brainstorm for ideas. Kaidan then thought of an idea.

"What about Garrus, that Turian C-Sec officer from before? Wasn't he investigating Saren as well?"

The Commander halted his pace and responded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I think he's our best bet on helping us out. The question is, 'Where can we find him,'?"

Udina then chimed in, "You can ask one of our C-Sec officers, Harkin. He knows Garrus, worked with him from time to time. I think you can find him at Chora's Den, he's usually there on his time off."

The Captain shook his head dismissively, "Forget it, Commander. Harkin's trash, worse than some of the scum he helps arrests, if any."

Shepard looked at the Captain questionably, "What has Harkin got himself into?"

Anderson began to number the things off that any corrupt cop could be or worse, which was Harkin. Shepard looked baffled as he asked, "Then why the heck are they keeping him around?"

Udina stiffened and said defensively, "Now, now, Commander. Harkin may be a bad C-Sec officer, but he was one of the first. We had to pull a lot of strings to keep him in there. How would it look if one of our first human C-Sec officers was trash?" Shepard began to feel a great deal of hatred toward Udina, regardless of keeping humans in C-Sec, it began to piss him off that politicians kept trash like this Harkin character. Visibly Shepard glared at the ambassador, twitching as well, feeling the compulsion to knock his clock off.

Captain Anderson intervened breaking up the inevitable fight, "There is one other way. I heard there's a Volus, Barla Von, who's a contact of the Shadow Broker."

Ashley Williams spoke out Shepard's thoughts, "Shadow Broker?"

Anderson began explaining that the Volus aside from banking and financial advisement, was a contact for the Shadow Broker, an unknown entity who bought and sold information across the galaxy.

"Sounds shady, Captain. I don't know which of the evils are lesser though, which doesn't leave me with a lot of options."

Captain Anderson then said reassuringly, "It's your choice, Commander. Whatever the choice you choose, I trust you with it," Anderson then stuck out a hand which Shepard in turned grasped it for a firm shake before Anderson concluded, "good hunting, Shepard. Hopefully we can bring Saren to light, and end this nightmare."

A/N- Wow, sorry I took so long with the update. I ran into a couple writer's blocks trying to decide how to write the Council Trial. I personally thought this was a good twist from the original. I kinda have to agree with the Council that his evidence was pretty weak. Giving Shepard a what I like to call 'Detective's mind', gives Shepard a keener view for detail, not always the one who doesn't know a thing until told.

I also wanted to make the Council more defensive against the human accusers, more prone to defend a long-time trustworthy agent. Even with all the theories and clever assumptions, they still denied it, clearly stating their, "I'll see it to believe it," crap.

For those who reviewed in the past, I want to thank you and appreciate all those who keep reading. Your support, ideas, criticisms, and comments are always welcome. Also, I'm putting up a poll of which lead Shepard takes: Barla Von or Harkin. If I get up ten votes either way, I'll take your word for it and write away. If not enough votes are polled, I'll decide myself. I'm giving my readers a week to vote, so get to it!


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